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Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service coming live from London.

This is Owen Bennett Jones.

Well, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei's leadership of Iran was defined by resisting the United States and Israel abroad and crushing dissent at home.

For 36 years, he was the supreme leader, a religious authority with worldly power.

But today, as dawn broke in Tehran, Iranian state media confirmed he was dead,

killed in his office in the

first round of the US and Israeli strikes. On state TV, the announcer broke down in tears as he told

the nation that the leader had drunk, he said, the sweet, pure draft of martyrdom.

And azaid, chahehan, and the ummat of Islamdom. The announcement of the Azzad of the Ayatollah's death led to two very different reactions in Iran.

Social media clip showed people chanting slogans about freedom,

dancing. One video verified by the BBC, filmed in the west of the capital Tehran, shows people

cheering and whistling from their windows and balconies.

Other Iranians reacted very differently, gathering in Tehran holding portraits of the Ayatollah in the air,

and waving Iranian flags and chanting his name.

We've also been hearing from people in Iran. These are messages sent to BBC Persian service after the announcement.

People were incredibly happy last night. I think the timing of the announcement of Hamonane's death on state television was deliberate.

They likely wanted to prevent people from pouring into the streets to protest.

They announced it just before the call to prayer in the early hours of the morning.

It feels as though the air itself has cleared since his death,

as if something unclean has been lifted from it.

Some saw it that way. Others didn't.

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