Residents of Iran expressed gratitude this week to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump for assassinating Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, but expressed worries over where the ongoing US-Israeli bombing campaign on their country will lead, in testimonies shared with The Times of Israel.

“We kiss the hands of Mr. Trump and Netanyahu. Thank you to them. People really became happy,” declared Hassan, a man in his 40s from northern Iran’s Shahrud, in a voice recording sent to The Times of Israel via an anti-regime activist.

Iranian dissidents had pleaded for US and Israeli military intervention in January when the regime launched a brutal crackdown on protests, killing tens of thousands who had gone into the streets to demonstrate, according to some accounts.

On Saturday, Israeli planes bombed Khamenei, killing him and other top leaders, and Netanyahu and Trump have urged Iranians to rise up against the Islamic regime. But Iranian authorities appear to still be in control, anti-regime crowds are sheltering from intense air strikes and the future of the country remains deeply uncertain.

Little news has come out of Iran since the offensive began, making it difficult to gauge Iranian reactions beyond official regime statements. However, four residents of Iran were able to provide written and recorded responses to a series of questions from The Times of Israel.

The questions were sent to them by Gio Esfandeyari, a British-Iranian anti-regime activist and board member of NGO Lotus Advocacy, who then forwarded their Farsi-language replies to The Times of Israel. Their accounts and identities — referred to here with pseudonyms — could not be independently verified.

Nonetheless, they potentially offer a rare glimpse into how some Iranian civilians have experienced the ongoing operation.

While verifying events and broader public opinion in Iran remains difficult due to internet blackouts and limited engagement with outside media, respondents described jubilation at Khamenei’s death, widely documented elsewhere, alongside anxiety over the continuing bombardment, and hope that the strikes could ultimately bring down the regime for good.

“When we found out that this bastard had gone to hell, we poured into the streets,” Hassan said of open celebrations that broke out in some areas of Iran when the regime announced that Khamenei had been killed. “From Shahrbani Street to Azadi Square in Shahrud — people were celebrating and dancing.”

Ahmad, a Tehran resident in his........

© The Times of Israel