Cheers and car horns, calls for revenge and tears: in the aftermath of the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the American-Israeli attack, Iranians are experiencing mixed feelings.

The supreme leader, in power since 1989, was killed on Saturday along with several senior military officials in the attack led by the United States and Israel, which prompted a response from Tehran in the Gulf.

When news of his death was announced, "cries of joy rang out in every neighborhood, and people poured into the streets," a Tehran resident in her thirties told AFP on condition of anonymity. "We felt this joy even though we were in the midst of a missile war."

"We all understand that there is absolutely no way to reform this regime without foreign intervention," the young woman continued. "They have taken the Iranian people hostage, like a foreign enemy, and they will do whatever they want."

"We are in the street celebrating the news," another woman, in her forties, told AFP after leaving the capital, which was hit by powerful explosions on Sunday evening.

Conversely, a Tehran resident in his thirties seemed petrified. "I am in shock. I can't believe what happened," he said.

In a sign of persistent mistrust in the country, where authorities brutally suppressed a wave of protests in January, none of the people interviewed by AFP were willing to give their name.

Shortly after Iranian state television announced the death of Ayatollah Khamenei early Sunday morning, mourning Iranians, some angry, others in tears, took to the streets of central Tehran.

Chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," they called for revenge, waving portraits of the Supreme Leader and the Iranian flag. Similar rallies took place in the cities of Shiraz, Yazd, and Isfahan (central Iran) and in Tabriz (northwest Iran), according to state television.

- "The future is not good" -

Iran began a 40-day mourning period on Sunday and declared seven public holidays.

Police officers, deployed in greater numbers than during the 12-day war with Israel in June, patrolled the deserted streets of the capital, where shops kept their shutters down.

In the north of the country, at the Islam Qala border post, an AFP journalist saw that a black flag had been raised, while the Iranian flag was completely lowered.

"The situation in our country right now is not good at all," testified a truck driver - under the cover of anonymity - who was "really worried" since the announcement of Ali Khamenei's death.

"I don't know what will happen in the future, but the future is not good for us Iranians," he fears. "The Americans have destroyed everything everywhere they have gone in the world," he says, accusing them of wanting to seize Iran's energy resources.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States would strike Iran with "unprecedented" force if the country continued to retaliate against the US-Israeli attack that killed Ali Khamenei.

For their part, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian declared that avenging the death of the Supreme Leader was a "legitimate duty" for the Islamic Republic, and the country's top security official, Ali Larijani, promised to strike the United States and Israel with unprecedented force.

- "Only the names will change" -

For Umut, a 45-year-old mining company manager, the death of Ali Khamenei should not lead to a transformation of the country.

"Only the names will change, but I think the regime will remain in place," he told AFP, after crossing the border at Razi-Kapikoy to enter Turkey.

"I do not foresee any regime change in the short term," assures this man, who was present in Tehran when the first reports of the Supreme Leader's death were leaked.

"There were no demonstrations in the streets," only a rush on gas stations, he observed. He said he didn't plan to return home until the situation had calmed down, "if the streets are safe and there are no explosions at night."