Calla Walsh, once viewed as a rising young activist in Democratic circles, appeared Saturday at the funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, where she praised him in an interview with Iran’s state-run PressTV while wearing a hijab and traditional attire.
Walsh, 22, who has previously been arrested in the United States in connection with alleged antisemitic vandalism, spoke to the Iranian outlet over the weekend about attending the ceremony and described Khamenei as a figure who stood against the United States and Israel.
“He was a leader to all people of the world who struggle against imperialism, arrogance, against Zionism, against genocide,” Walsh said in the broadcast.
“To me, he was the greatest anti-imperialist leader to have lived during my lifetime,” she added.
Her appearance marks another controversial moment in Walsh’s political trajectory. The daughter of a Boston University English professor and a Harvard writing teacher, she attended elite prep schools and first drew praise from Democrats for her activism when she was just 14.
Walsh later volunteered for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign and also worked on Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s campaign.
During her remarks Saturday, Walsh said Khamenei was deeply loved in Iran, despite his government’s brutal crackdown earlier this year that left between 7,000 and 30,000 protesters dead, according to human rights groups.
She also had a brief leadership role in the Democratic Socialists of America before leaving the group, claiming it had become too close to pro-Israel interests.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, she has been one of the biggest American mouthpieces for Iran’s Islamist regime.
The regime ally, who lives in Lebanon, claimed more Iranians than ever were now standing with the regime following the war with the US, slamming the conflict as a total loss for America.
“It’s still fair to say that the US has been more humiliated than it has ever been before in its history,” Walsh said.
The pro-regime activist ended her praise by describing the slain supreme leader as a “humble” man whose teachings, along with those of the Islamic Revolution, could be “especially” used in the US.
Khamenei was killed in Israeli airstrikes as the war began on Feb. 28. Iran launched a six-day funeral for the slain ayatollah that began over the weekend.
Walsh, a former co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (NNC) and supporter of the CodePink nonprofits, has repeatedly bashed America’s military actions across the globe.
Walsh has long been an incendiary critic of Israel and was arrested in 2023 for vandalizing an Israeli company’s New Hampshire office in protest of the war in Gaza.
She also previously promoted on social media the Mapping Project, which listed the names and addresses of nearly 500 institutions in Massachusetts, many of them linked to the Jewish community or Israel; and has shared online that “there is no ‘peaceful solution’ under military occupation” for Palestinians.
