TEHRAN, IRAN—Iran's 37 year authoritarian ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound early Wednesday, multiple sources confirmed. An attack that ignited relief among many Iranians but also unleashed a torrent of sexist attacks on womyn who dared to express it. The bombing, escalating ongoing tensions in Middle East, also killed civilians, including young girls at a nearby school in the vicinity, per reports from Iranian officials and eyewitnesses.
US and Israeli leaders called it a strategic hit on a key threat, but detractors say it was naked imperialism masking its true ulterior agendas. The strike hit around dawn, with US drones and Israeli jets unleashing missiles on Khamenei's heavily guarded residence, according to intelligence briefs shared with CNN. The 86-year-old leader and several top aides died instantly. The fallout spread. Iranian state media said 12 civilians perished nearby, among them three girls—8, 10 and 12 years old—playing outside when explosions ripped through. "It was chaos; those kids didn't stand a chance," one local resident told CNN anonymously, fearing reprisals. Human rights groups like Amnesty International blasted the operation for ignoring civilian risks, arguing it prioritized power over people.
Skeptics aren't buying the official line. The timing—right as more Epstein files drop in US courts, naming high-profile public figures—seeming more like a deflection tactic to bury scandals at home. Palantir Technologies stands out as a major beneficiary from the February 28, 2026, U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, particularly due to its deep integration into military intelligence and AI-driven operations. The company's platforms, like Gotham for intelligence analysis, Foundry for data integration, and the Maven Smart System for AI targeting, were apparently pivotal in compressing the "sensor-to-shooter" timeline—turning raw intel into actionable strikes in seconds. This tech was allegedly key in locating high-value targets, including dictator Ali Khamenei's compound, as part of "Operation Epic Fury."
Khamenei's end stirs up the ghosts of 2022's "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests, triggered by the brutal death of 22-year-old Jina (Mahsa) Amini in morality police custody for a loose hijab. Womyn led the charge, torching headscarves, chopping hair in fury, demanding freedom from forced veiling and theocratic control. The regime hit back hard—arrests, beatings, killings. Then in 2023, 16-year-old Armita Geravand died after clashing with enforcers over her outfit, another spark in the fire.
Life under Khamenei was hell for Iranian womyn: mandatory hijabs, blocked from jobs or school if they resisted, acid flung in faces for disobedience. Morality police hunted female Iranians like predators, floggings, rapes in jail, executions for "crimes" like showing hair. Human Rights Watch docs spelled it out for us. Thousands were jailed, tortured, murdered just for demanding their basic rights. It was the system's rotten core, enforcing male supremacy with the sacrifice of female agency, and their bodies.
Western leftists have long since abandoned any form of solidarity with womyn's struggle, implying these matters "secondary" to big-picture anti-imperialism or class wars—divisive distractions at best. Womyn around the world felt gutted and betrayed by the people who purported themselves to be the moral standard, and advocates of freedom and liberation. Now? They couldn't give less of a damn about gender apartheid or sex based violence if it conflicts with their shallow view of anti-imperialism.
Post-assassination, Iranian women flooded X with raw relief—finally free from destruction of their lives via predetermined futures. However, men from every side of the political spectrum piled on, slinging "whore" slurs, AI memes forecasting porn or OnlyFans for the futures of Iranian womyn, even claiming they'd roam the streets naked. Take Maral Salmassi, an Iranian-German activist (
@MaralSalmassi), who blasted left hypocrisy: "We Iranian women can't call out the hypocrisy of the Left and Woke feminists enough. For these narcissistic codependents, it's never about true equality or justice — it's all about feeding the bottomless pit of their egos."
Actress Nazanin Boniadi (@NazaninBoniadi) has faced vicious diaspora attacks, as noted by Yashar Ali: "disgusting and often misogynistic attacks... calling her a whore, a bitch, a cunt." Similar venom hits Masih Alinejad and others—cross-ideology hate bonding over sexism. Even as these womyn survived morality police brutality, now they're dodging digital daggers from "progressives" and conservatives alike.
This mess hits hard globally. Watching men team up to gleefully disparage womyn who celebrate a tyrant's fall? It disillusions, sows doubt in any allies. But the shared frustration, like from quotes shared by users like Crystal Clear (
@Carolyn68302977): "Western, liberal, 'woke' feminists... consistently stand with our oppressors under the delusion of saviorism."
We often hear, specifically from leftists, that we should listen to marginalized people, and support them in the way they want to be supported. It seems though, at this crossroad, Iranian womyn have been abandoned.
