Farnaz Fassihi

Thank you for having me, Michael.

It's one of those historic days that I think if for every Iranian, whether you're a supporter of the government or you're an opponent, whether you live inside or you live outside, this is a new day.

This is a new Iran.

From the moment we started hearing about Mr. Khamenei being potentially killed, my phone started buzzing.

I was getting text messages and phone calls from my friends and family members.

And I was also getting text messages and calls from some of my sources in Iran who were asking me, do you know anything?

Is the news true?

Is he gone?

What have you heard?

No matter what side of the divide you were on, this was a monumental moment.

And today, Iranians woke up to the first day of history without Mr. Khamenei in power.

And we don't know exactly what that's going to mean yet, but this figure who has loomed very large for almost four decades over the fate of Iranians is gone.

Some Iranians were celebrating.

People were pouring to the streets.

I had several video calls with several people I know in Tehran who turned on the camera and showed me cars honking on the streets.

People cheering.

There were fireworks.

People sticking their heads out of the windows and chanting, freedom, freedom, and this visceral scream.

like a scream of relief almost.

And for the diaspora, it was scattered all over the world.