Farnaz Fassihi

It was a similar feeling.

I watched a group of family members congregate on FaceTime.

Some were in the U.S., some were in Europe, some were in Iran.

And everybody did a video call and some of them were crying.

They were just these tears of relief and shock and joy even.

And then they celebrated with shots.

And there was a lot of cheers.

Exactly.

It feels like a dream for many Iranians that once they used to all live a few blocks from each other and have multi-generational family gatherings.

And under Mr. Khamenei, many of them have not been able to return to Iran.

And many families have just scattered like stardust all over the world and separated from each other.

For Mr. Khamenei's supporters, this feels like a big loss.

His supporters started to come out into the streets in large numbers and going to mosques and praying and crying.

It feels like the ground is shifting under them.

Not only have they lost a religious figure that they revered and believed in, but they've also lost a political leader of a system that they have ideological loyalty to.

It feels like that is in jeopardy, that they don't know whether this Islamic Republic that they believe in and they support is going to survive or not without him.

And you know, this is the reality of Iran, Michael.

This polarized society.

And one wonders, whatever comes next, whatever form of government comes next, how are you going to bring these two sides anywhere close to each other?

Or is that even possible?