The death of Ali Khamenei sent shockwaves not only in the Middle East but the entire world. Khamenei, along with his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, was killed by airstrikes conducted by Israel and the US. While many Iranians are mourning his death, some are celebrating it showcasing the end of a regime. It is just a matter of time before fate decides whether these celebrations will die or will they continue with a new chapter.
Being a Muslim majority country, Iran had secularism not only in their genes but also in their past governance. During the Pahlavi dynasty from 1925 to 1941, under the rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran pursued rapid modernisation, secular reforms, and Westernisation. Despite his control being authoritarian by nature, Iranians embraced the rapid transformation of society with the expansion of education, engagement with Western technology, culture, and geopolitics. Unlike Pahlavi, Mohammad Mossadegh was not a monarch but more of a nationalist who, in 1951, became the democratically supported – by the National Front – Prime Minister of the Iranian parliament. His focus was mostly of nationalising Iran’s oil industry, which was then owned by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Despite being a nationalist, he was widely supported for resisting foreign domination – along with anti-Imperialism – and focus on a ‘made in Iran, made for Iran’ model. The 1953 coup by CIA and MI6 overthrew his government in order to bring back the monarchy of Reza Shah’s son, Mohammad Reza Shah. He launched the ‘White Revolution’ with reforms including land distribution, expansion of literacy and health programmes, industrial growth, and modernisation of society and economy.
The Islamic Revolution, led by Ruhollah Khomenei, in 1979 is where things took a different turn towards Iran. Instead of modernisation and Westernisation, the whole country was fed state-forced religion upon everyone and it was during this time when cases and freedom was suppressed heavily. Iranians saw the implementation of theocracy, loss of political freedoms, mandatory religious laws, and so on. Many Iranians disapproved of this regulation and wanted to become more secular in nature rather than being stuck in chains of religious advocacy.
During the regime, Iranians found themselves taking the streets especially after the death of Mahsa Amini under police detention in 2022. In late December 2025, protests erupted demanding fundamental change and a political system that respects human rights and dignity. Iranian authorities countered by cutting all internet access and using unlawful force resulting in mass killings and serious injuries.
According to a 2024 survey by GAMAAN (Group for Analysing and Measuring Attitudes in IRAN) shows that around 20% of Iranians support the continuation of the Islamic Republic, with the local support for religious theocratic principles closer to around 11%. The majority of the supporters are elderly citizens who have faced the Revolution, under educated people, and citizens of rural areas. They mourn because they are afraid that their ideologies, that aligned with the Islamic Republic’s theocracy are fading. They are now afraid that secularism will dominate the country, making free will a necessity and leading the youth to a darker direction.
Although Khamenei is gone, many are celebrating just to regain their freedom of expression. They do not want a regime that will impose religion forcefully but keep it personal, which the Islamic Republic opposed. But what will happen to Iran is just a matter of time and situation.
The writer is a Sub Editor at Daily Times of Bangladesh
