Tehran’s skies burned with missile trails as its streets flooded with flag‑waving crowds, cheering and chanting the name of Mojtaba Khamenei, the newly declared Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, in a surreal blend of war and celebration that has stunned the region.

State TV showed packed boulevards in the capital and major cities as thousands marched under portraits of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son‑successor, even while air‑raid sirens wailed in the background and distant blasts from US‑Israeli strikes echoed across the skyline. IRGC units lined key squares, firing tracer rounds into the night in what officials insisted were “salutes, not air defences.”

In an emergency session earlier in the day, the ᴀssembly of Experts confirmed Mojtaba’s elevation, calling him “the leader for the era of resistance.” Within hours, billboards were replaced, newspapers rolled out special black‑bordered editions, and state clerics declared loyalty from pulpits as ballistic missiles roared toward Israeli and US bases in the Gulf.

On the streets, the mood was a combustible mix of orchestrated fervour and raw fear. Some chanted “Labayk ya Mojtaba!” and “Death to America,” while others whispered about new draft calls, тιԍнтer internet controls and the prospect of an even more hard‑line doctrine under a leader forged in the shadows of the Revolutionary Guard.

As missiles fly overhead and crowds below swear allegiance, one question now grips foreign capitals and ordinary Iranians alike: has Mojtaba Khamenei inherited a state he can command—or a war he can no longer control?