Two political leaders, one American and one Qatari, died this week. While Iranian state media is mourning the late Qatari emir as an ally, it is ghoulishly and smugly relishing the death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Other American leaders need to pay attention to the difference and understand that the Iranian and Qatari regimes are our enemies.
Fars News, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had a series of posts about the “Sudden Death of the American Anti-Iran, Pro-Israel Senator.” For instance, Fars shared a clip of Graham predicting the fall of the Islamic regime and resulting financial benefits for America. “The American senator died longing for Iran's resources!” Fars snickered in Persian. The news outlet also dwelt on how the “Zionist President and Regime [i.e., Israel] in Shock and Grief.”
Iranian state media PressTV was even more blatantly exultant. “Death of a warmonger: Lindsey Graham, hawkish US senator who plotted Iran’s fall, meets his end,” was the PressTV headline. The outlet, which is a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime, which massacred tens of thousands of its own people along with huge numbers of Israelis, Americans, and other innocents around the world, claims that Graham supported genocidal Israel policies.
The PressTV write-up, in fact, is extremely lengthy, a mix of mis-framed facts and outright fictions. The ending of the piece is sufficiently representative of the whole:
Graham's legacy was that of a senator who consistently championed a muscular American foreign policy and a close strategic partnership with Israel. His uncompromising advocacy of military pressure and “regime change” ultimately failed to produce the outcomes he sought.
Despite decades of sanctions, diplomatic isolation, covert operations, and repeated military confrontations, the Islamic Republic has only become stronger, and the country has continued to advance its missile program and maintain its regional network of allies and partners.
Talk about grave-dancing.
Related: Netanyahu Mourns Lindsey Graham’s Sudden Death
Whether or not you were a fan of Graham or thought his policies left something to be desired, the Iranian regime reaction to his death is very telling. Graham was an influential American leader, close to the president, and a staunch supporter of Israel, and those are precisely the reasons that Iranian jihadis are gleeful at his death. We cannot make peace with such people. Don't forget regime supporters in Tehran just called for Graham's death:
At least they used a good photo of me.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 6, 2026
Judge me by my enemies. https://t.co/Ok2Oq1v4O5 pic.twitter.com/b1RBvzKo9K
Now look at what Iranian media has said about the death of the late emir of Qatar, citing Iranian leaders who love to push “death to America”:
[PressTV] Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have expressed condolences on the passing of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former Emir of Qatar, to his son Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and conveyed sympathy for the government and brotherly people of Qatar … "With profound sorrow, I received the news of the passing of your esteemed father, the late Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani," the president wrote.
This is the language of friendship, and why not? Qatar and Iran have spent years strengthening their ties. Both regimes sponsor Islamic terrorism and aim to wipe Israel off the map. We cannot trust the Qatari emirs, no matter how many investment deals they give us. They are fundamentally the same murderous jihadis as the Tehran terrorists.
