‘You weren’t free’: Iranians party in London and Manchester after strikes against regime

The diaspora hope the death of Ali Khamenei will bring change - and peace - even as fears remain over Iran's future

On Saturday night, with bombs falling across the Middle East and rumours of the death of Ali Khamenei, the longtime ayatollah of Iran, spreading, the streets of north London resembled a party.

Thousands of revellers filled Finchley Road, a part of London often called Little Tehran because of the large Iranian community, waving flags, many with the lion and sun, the flag of the Iranian state before the 1979 Islamic revolution.