Around 4,000 people demonstrated in Paris on Sunday to salute the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in American and Israeli strikes, while several hundred others gathered against an Israeli-American intervention deemed illegal.

Published on: 03/01/2026 - 8:13 p.m. Modified on: 03/01/2026 - 11:06 p.m.

“We have come closer to our freedom”: a few thousand Iranians marched on Sunday March 1 in Paris after the attacks launched by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran which led to the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, an international intervention that some denounce.

“It’s the beginning of the end,” relishes Suzie Ziai, “but we shouldn’t dance too much either, the regime must now fall.”

“Even though I live in France, I always feel like I have a rock on my back and I can't breathe. Now, I'm breathing a little better but it's not enough,” she adds.

Like Suzie Ziai, born in Iran and arrived in France in 1980, there were 4,000 according to the police to march on Sunday afternoon against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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A banner reading “Iran, life, freedom with Reza Pahlavi”, the heir to the shah of Iran, opened the parade, another “Make Iran Great Again” with the face of Pahlavi, his father and his grandfather was also displayed.

“I have a lot of hope on the crown prince because I think he is the best suited to make the transition,” defends Suzie Ziai, “he is the most democratic, the most international, he has a lot of credibility.”

“Behind Bars”

During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the country's authorities confirmed the death of Ali Khamenei whom some, like Amir (an Iranian political refugee who did not wish to give his name), "would have preferred to see behind the bars of a prison" to answer for his actions.

Rama Ekhtiari, 44, born in Tehran, arrived in France at the age of three, came to Bastille with her family.

“We came to celebrate Khamenei’s death and we continue to fight so that the regime falls and we can celebrate on D-Day. But it’s already a good start,” she says.

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“We trust Israel and the United States” to bring down the Islamic Republic, adds Rama Ekhtiari, to the sound of “Islamic Republic, assassin for our children” and “No to the terrorist Islamic Republic in Iran” chanted around her.

Isn't she afraid that civilians will pay with their lives? “Yes, (...) but what is ultimately more dangerous is not the Israeli bombs, it is the Revolutionary Guards who kill the people who demonstrate in Iran,” she retorts.

“Contrary to international law”

A little earlier at Place de la République, a few hundred people gathered to protest against the Israeli-American strikes in Iran, contrary to “international law”.

“We are here to condemn the Israeli and American intervention against the Islamic Republic of Iran and at the same time condemn (the regime) which has only provoked tensions at the international level on the one hand and fierce repression and an unspeakable massacre against two uprisings,” Behrooz Farahany, 67, a Franco-Iranian who arrived in France in 1982, told AFP.

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According to this member of the Socialist Solidarity with Workers in Iran association, overthrowing the Iranian government "must be done by the Iranians and no one else",

And added: “No one is unhappy that Khamenei was killed (....) but we condemn this war contrary to international law.”

Same tone on the side of Batoul Arasteh, 75 years old, Femmes Vie Liberté flag in hand. She has relatives in Iran but has not had any news since Friday. She has been in France for 45 years and has never returned to Iran.

“It is the Iranian people who decide,” according to her. “Yesterday (Saturday), 140 children were killed (108 according to the Iranian Red Crescent, Editor's note), it is the people who suffer,” deplores this demonstrator, expressing her fear that “Iran will become like Syria or Iraq”.

“We think that something will emerge from inside Iran,” Behrooz Farahany now hopes, “because a return to royalism is not an option.”

With AFP

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