Giving the first UK Government response to Mr Khamenei’s death, Healey told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I think few people will mourn the Ayatollah’s death, not least the family and friends of those thousands of young protesters murdered on the streets of Iranian cities.

“Iran and the regime he’s led for so long, it’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring and exporting terror, including to countries like Britain.”