Hundreds Gather to Protest Foreign Attacks

Furthermore, many Iranians see this as the definitive collapse of a "wall of fear" that the Islamic Republic spent nearly half a century building. Throughout his tenure, Khamenei consolidated power by ensuring that any dissent was met with overwhelming force, from the 2009 Green Movement to the 2022 and 2025 uprisings. By surviving so many waves of protest, the regime had cultivated an aura of invincibility. His sudden and violent removal from the pinnacle of power has broken that illusion. The sight of people dancing in the streets of Mashhad and Karaj suggests that the psychological grip of the security state has faltered. For the first time in decades, the "unthinkable"—a transition away from theocratic rule—has become a tangible possibility, fueling a euphoria born from the realization that no leader is eternal.