Meet the Western Influencers who visited the Khamenei Funeral in Iran
The death of longtime “spiritual” and de facto leader of the Iranian regime, Khamenei, sparked many, in many cases, revealing reactions worldwide. Anti Western activists were outraged and sent their condolences, in some cases calling Khamenei an “anti imperialist” leader.
Some influencers went the extra mile, in particular traveling thousands of miles to the Islamic Republic of Iran, to show their solidarity with the “great leader” by attending Khamenei’s funeral.
This funeral was indeed a well organized propaganda event with the goal of delivering two key messages: 1) Iran is not isolated and has a lot of international support and 2) the Iranian people stand behind the regime. The overwhelming majority of democratic countries did not send representatives to the funeral, while, not very surprisingly, authoritarian states aligned with Iran were present, as well as, to some extent, countries from the region, even the ones Iran attacked earlier this year.
The absence of Western representatives was not only covered by several correspondents of authoritarian regime propaganda outlets, but also a couple of Western “influencers” paid their tribute to the deceased regime leader.
Jackson Hinkle was one of them, the co founder of the “American Communist Party”, founded in 2024, and the inventor of the term “MAGA communism”. Hinkle is known for his radical anti Western views. Not only does he speak out for the Iranian regime, he also shares favorable views about Russia, China, Venezuela (Maduro) and even North Korea. In a bizarre video circulating online, he can be seen chanting “down with USA” in front of a crowd in a square in Iran.
Another Western influencer who visited Iran during Khamenei’s funeral is Christopher Helali, who has also participated in communist movements and is known for his channel “DD Geopolitics”. He provides his “geopolitical analysis” for several outlets, including the Russian propaganda outlet RT and the Iranian state channel “Press TV”. On RT, he also reported from Iran about the “Farewell to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei”: “hundreds of thousands just in here and around the complex with millions more on the streets and of course they want revenge”, and further he said about Dmitry Medvedev’s visit as part of the Russian delegation: “The presence of Dmitry Medvedev was very important, it was seen as an important moment of that unity between Russia and Iran and I believe that in the coming years we are going to see an even deeper relationship between Russia and Iran as they confront the same hostile Euro Atlantic forces, that seek to destroy their sovereignty whether it is in the Donbas or it is in Iran…”
Calla Walsh, U.S. influencer. Images from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), reposted by Walsh on “X” (former Twitter) and Press TV (Iranian international state media channel).
The founder of The Grayzone, the left leaning media outlet criticized for being “fringe” and for downplaying Chinese, Russian and Iranian crimes, Max Blumenthal, was also present at the funeral. On The Grayzone’s YouTube channel it is written about the visit: “The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal joins Prof. Mohammad Marandi on his trip to Tehran’s Mosalla to pay respects to Sayyed Ali Khamenei.”
Among the Western visitors was Calla Walsh, a far left activist who was formerly a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). In a speech circulating online, she said about the Iranian regime leader Khamenei: “To me, he was the greatest anti imperialist leader to have lived during my lifetime.”
The participation of these figures was widely highlighted by Iranian state media, which repeatedly emphasized the presence of foreign guests and commentators throughout the funeral ceremonies. According to the Iranian regime, around 400 foreign influencers were registered to cover Khamenei’s funeral. Many influencers, and sometimes even Western media outlets, fell for this manipulation and took part in it, failing to recognize how authoritarian regimes can exploit every occasion for propaganda purposes.
Although he was not personally present in Iran, British politician and former Member of the European Parliament George Galloway also publicly paid tribute to Khamenei. In a video message broadcast by the Iranian international state propaganda channel “Press TV”, he described Khamenei as a “great leader”, “martyr” and “inspiration to hundreds of millions of people”.
Further Links
