Some of the jubilation was open and even raucous — people dancing in Iranian streets, honking car horns in celebration, screaming joyfully from windows and rooftops over the killing of the country’s supreme leader. But as bombardment by the United States and Israel fell from the air for a second day Sunday, many expressed fear and uncertainty over what direction Iran will take.
The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who stood at the pinnacle of Iran’s Islamic Republic for nearly four decades, along with a number of top military leaders in the first day of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, stunned Iranians and stirred a mix of complex emotions in a divided nation.
“Inside, we are in party mode,” said one man in northern Tehran who expressed joy over Khamenei’s death. He was reached via messaging apps. “But unless we are safe from them, people are not celebrating publicly because they are ruthless and even more vengeful.”
Authorities moved to show public support, rallying massive crowds in several cities to mourn a leader that state media declared a martyr. Video run on state media — verified by the AP — showed tens of thousands filling the sprawling main squares of the southern and central cities of Isfahan and Yazd, waving Iranian flags and chanting, “Death to America.”
Several of those who joined past anti-government protests, reached by The Associated Press on Sunday, said the state’s security grip remained too strong to go out for a new round of mass demonstrations, despite calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iranians to “seize their government.” With communications into Iran unstable, AP contacted eight Iranians, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Golshan Fathi, a woman living in Tehran, said the Basij paramilitary, which played a key role in the bloody crushing of mass protests last month, was showing a heavy presence in the streets of the capital. A doctor in the northern city of Rasht said Basijis pulled one man out of his car after he honked his horn in celebration.
Iranian society at the moment, Fathi said, is living “between hope and fear.”
Some cheered, some honked
Iranian society is deeply divided. Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets across Iran last month, chanting “Death to Khamenei” in what were likely the biggest protests ever against the clerics’ rule in place since 1979. A bloody crackdown crushed the street movement, but not the bitterness against the government. At the same time, large numbers of loyalists remain tied to the system for religious, social or patronage reasons.
Iran’s leadership quickly moved to show it was still in control even after the deaths of Khamenei, the defense minister, army chief of staff and a top security adviser. President Masoud Pezeshkian said a new leadership council had begun its work, and the foreign minister said a new supreme leader would be chosen in “one or two days.”
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf delivered an address on state TV on Sunday, saying the government and military did not depend on individuals.
“We prepared ourselves for these moments and set plans for all scenarios,” he said, “even for after the martyrdom of our dear Imam Khamenei.”
State media announced Khamenei’s death just after dawn on Sunday. Celebrations erupted in some areas. Videos circulating online and verified by the AP showed dozens cheering and dancing and cars honking their horns in the streets of Karaj, a city near Tehran. Fathi in Tehran and the doctor in Rasht said cheers and celebratory chants were heard from windows and rooftops around their neighborhoods.
“It was one of the best nights, if not the best night, of our lives,” the doctor said in a voice message. “It was actually my first time ever smoking a cigarette. … We didn’t sleep at all. And we don’t even feel tired.”
