Iranians celebrate in Tehran streets following Khamenei's confirmed death

Following IRNA's confirmation of Supreme Leader Khamenei's death, large crowds of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and other cities in scenes of celebration. The New York Times reported: "Large crowds of Iranians poured into the streets of Tehran and other cities across Iran overnight, celebrating the news that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed during a day of coordinated U.S. and Israeli attacks." This development has significant intelligence implications. The 2025–2026 Iranian protests — described as the largest since the Islamic Revolution — were met with a massacre of thousands of civilians by regime security forces in January 2026. Trump had stated "help is on the way" in response to the crackdown. The celebratory response suggests a significant portion of the Iranian population views the regime's collapse as positive. This undermines the regime's claim to represent the Iranian people and complicates the IRGC's ability to mobilize domestic support for continued retaliation. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), speaking on CNN, stated: "I saw no intelligence that Iran was on the verge of launching any kind of preemptive strike against the United States of America. None." This directly contradicted the Trump administration's stated justification for the operation. Transitional government leadership confirmed: President Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Mohseni Ejei, and Assembly of Experts head Arafi have assumed collective leadership per constitutional succession procedures.