Sky News Australia host and former Iranian citizen Rita Panahi celebrated the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a scathing rebuke on air Saturday.
“This will be the shortest editorial I’ll ever deliver,” the “Outsiders” co-host said. “All I have to say is that after 47 years of Islamist tyranny, the dictator is dead, and Iran is on the verge of being liberated. I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime.”
She concluded her comments with what she called “gibberish Persian” that roughly translates to “Your father is a dog, dirt be on your head and rot in hell.” Her co-anchor Rowan Dean concurred and noted that the news was personal for Panahi.
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“We have seen the pain that you have gone through with everything that’s been happening in Iran the whole time I’ve known you, and to hear you positive is just so good. It’s just so fantastic,” Dean said.
Panahi left Iran when she was a child and reiterated that, although she knew the regime would be toppled eventually, she never thought she would live to see it.
“If I went to Iran today, last week, I’d be trapped in prison and dead rather quickly… They would know what I’ve said about the regime, what I’ve written over many things and said on programs like this, so I’ve never been able to go back,” Panahi said.
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She added that she has not been able to visit family or bring her son to see the country and complimented President Donald Trump for taking the opportunity to topple the leader during an election year.
“Again, when I talk about Donald Trump and his courage in doing this… to do this in an election year with the midterms looming, this is not a popular course of action. It’s not even popular among many on his own side, who don’t want America to be involved in Iran’s internal politics to be seeking regime change. So for him to do this is such an enormous risk, but it’s the right thing to do even at personal political cost,” Panahi said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Sky News Australia for comment.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was confirmed dead, along with 5-10 top leaders, after an Israeli strike in Tehran as part of a massive coordinated U.S.-Israeli military offensive called “Operation Epic Fury” announced early Saturday morning.
