From Tehran to the US and Beirut, the different realities of a global war

Three people wearing coats, seen from behind, huddle together on a stone bench. A small fire burns at their feet, and a fourth person sits on the ground beside them. In the distance, a large plume of dark smoke rises against a darkening gray sky over a city dotted with lights.

Smoke rises from the Shahran oil depot after US and Israeli attacks in Tehran, Iran.Hassan Ghaedi/Anadolu/Getty

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As news broke that Iran’s supreme leader had been killed, prominent critic Arash Azizi found himself trying to make sense of a moment he had long imagined.

For years, Azizi studied Iran’s political system and hoped for change from within. Now, with the man who defined that system gone, Azizi was left with questions: What comes next for Iran? And who gets to decide?

This week on Reveal, reporters Najib Aminy, Kiera Butler, and Nadia Hamdan follow the ripple effects of the war in Iran. Expats like Azizi wrestle with what the war could mean for Iran’s future, an influential group of Americans celebrate the conflict as a prophecy foretold, and residents of Lebanon grapple with the spiraling effects of the conflict.