Netizens from around the world have taken to social media platforms, belying a Western media campaign that aims to portray a lackluster popular reaction inside Iran to the recent tragic loss of the country’s President Ebrahim Raeisi and his companions.
Raeisi and his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, ascended to martyrdom on Sunday after the helicopter carrying them crashed as it was on its way to Tabriz, the capital of Iran’s East Azarbaijan Province. The tragedy was followed by millions-strong funeral processions across Tabriz as well as the north-central city of Qom and the capital Tehran, where the bodies lied in state.
Mainstream Western media outlets, however, sprung into action with a flurry of misreporting and understatement meant to underplay the immense grief that gripped the Iranian nation in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
At the other end of the scale, social media subscribers have been raging against the media campaign, posting images and videos of the heavy-hearted nation’s thronging the streets to bid farewell to their president.
X, among several other platforms, has been abuzz with posts by those trying to relay the reality on the ground.
Many of those debunking the anti-Iranian campaign have included journalists, activists, and others with first-hand experience of attending the countrywide funeral processions.
British independent journalist Richard Medhurst, who had joined the processions, said the Western media campaign was aimed at propagating “lies.”
I’m at President Raisi’s funeral in Tehran. Millions of people are in the streets. President Putin and Ismail Haniyeh have also come to pay their respects. Whateve Western media told you about Raisi being “disliked” in Iran is a lie. His passing is a loss for the entire world. pic.twitter.com/iVXFTXD6hV
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) May 22, 2024
Researcher and author Denijal Jegić scoffed at the anti-Iranian drive, saying no Western political personality would receive such popular support.
I am in Tehran. Millions of people are on the streets, painfully mourning the martyrdom of President Raisi. Meanwhile Western mainstream media is telling you another story - but this is not surprising because no Western president or political leader would gather such support. https://t.co/70cQ6qLwxV pic.twitter.com/QnhMdR05P0
— Denijal Jegić || دانيال ياغِتش (@denijaljegic) May 22, 2024
Shaykh Azhar Nasser, a cleric, said Western media outlets would intentionally avoid projecting a true picture of the popular reaction to Raeisi’s martyrdom as this would “not align with the narrative they seek to propagate.”
Even the most beloved western leader doesn’t get a funeral like this.
— Shaykh Azhar Nasser (@ShaykhAzhar) May 22, 2024
Western media outlets avoid broadcasting these funeral processions as they do not align with the narrative they seek to propagate. https://t.co/aO2ZxsRwSF
Danny Haiphong, geopolitical analyst and journalist, chimed in and posted an impressive picture of the funeral processions.
"No one will miss Raisi" - Western media and pro-West regime change monarchists.
— Danny Haiphong (@SpiritofHo) May 21, 2024
Actual Iranians at Raisi's funeral: pic.twitter.com/tsAqpC5WYR
A researcher and writer identifying himself as Arya described the contradiction between the reality and the anti-Iran media furor as risible, and posted more than a dozen pictures of the processions.
Today, we all have witnessed the retardness & low IQ of our enemies.
— Arya - آریا 🇮🇷🏴 (@AryJeay) May 22, 2024
Millions of Iranians marched in honor of the late Iranian president Raisi & his companions, out of love for their president, because he was a people’s person. But some still like to come up with the most… pic.twitter.com/MI4peRz41L
Mohamed al-Shami, Fulbright scholar from Yemen, blasted the anti-Iran reports as “wrong,” and posted footage of the funeral procession in Qom.
I thought President Raisi was unpopular in Iran, based on Western media reports. I was wrong. Watch the massive crowds in Qom during the funeral ceremony of the president and his companions. 🇮🇷 pic.twitter.com/mF2Oe1BO7c
— Mohamad Al Shami محمد الشامي 🇾🇪🇵🇸 (@mamashami) May 21, 2024
Another netizen identifying as Aliyu Jari said, “Western media misinform their audience” and asserted that President Raeisi “refused to be a Western lackey.”
No leader is loved 100% by his people, you can force some people but you cannot force these many people to come out on the street for a funeral procession.
— Engr. Aliyu Jari (@Aliyujari) May 22, 2024
Western media misinform their audience Raisi was hated by his people because he refused to be a Western lackey https://t.co/92w60pfu44
Hassan Mafi, a journalist, noted how a German reporter had tried to “film an empty street in Tehran” to try to claim that nobody was attending President Raeisi’s funeral.
A German journalist tried to film an empty street in Tehran and claimed that nobody was attending the funeral of Iran's President Raisi.
— Hassan Mafi (@thatdayin1992) May 22, 2024
Meanwhile, back in reality, this is Tehran: pic.twitter.com/WC2jlF6RYj
New Rules Geopolitics, an examiner of international affairs, cited University of Tehran Professor Mohammad Marandi as saying, “This enormous display of national solidarity exploded Western regime change fantasies.”
🇮🇷 Western narrative about Iran crumbles in real time
— NewRulesGeopolitics (@NewRulesGeo) May 22, 2024
Millions of Iranians rallied across the country to pay their final respects to the late President Raisi. This enormous display of national solidarity exploded Western regime change fantasies, @s_m_marandi told the… pic.twitter.com/s9aU0TU9j5
Nadira Ali, writer and activist, posted a panoramic view of Raeisi’s funeral in Iran, which she said, Western media “will never show you.”
The western media will never show you that nearly a million people have already attended the funeral of their late president, Ibrahim Raisi, and counting.......... pic.twitter.com/WQyN8azmmy
— Nadira Ali🇵🇸 (@Nadira_ali12) May 22, 2024