When Maryam Naghibolhosseini woke up on the morning of Feb. 28 to the news that the United States and Israel had attacked Iran, it signified the end of a long wait for her.

“We’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Naghibolhosseini, an associate professor in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and the faculty advisor for the Iranian Student Association at Michigan State University. “When it started, I woke up happy.”

Since the beginning of the war, Iranians in the U.S. have been split over how they should feel about an expanding war in which the ostensive purpose is to replace an authoritarian government they say they loathe, but has also killed thousands of civilians.

For some Iranian students and faculty at MSU, the war has forced them to reconcile with the human toll of military strikes against a country they have ties to. Still, some say they support the war effort, arguing that life under the current government was untenable.

Their stance reflects one position that members of the Iranian diaspora have taken regarding the war. In American cities with large Iranian populations, including Detroit, protests in favor of and against the war effort have taken place.

“It’s a very complex emotion. We are happy, scared, and angry at the same time,” said Erfan Omid, an Iranian graduate student studying chemistry. 

Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed by a U.S strike on the first day of the war. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has subsequently been named the country’s leader.

“We are absolutely happy for the death of Ali Khamenei,” Omid said, adding, however, that he is “also worried for people who might be in danger in Iran,” from further persecution by the government.

Naghibolhosseini, the associate professor, said that hearing that Khamenei was assassinated was “like hearing Hitler is dead, that’s how big it felt.” While she said she is hesitant to outright celebrate Khamenei's death, she said she believes the Iranian government is repressive and needs to be replaced.

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s government has been a theocratic republican system with its supreme leader wielding control over most state matters. The government has used authoritarian tactics including using the death penalty to punish dissent and consolidate power, according to human rights group Amnesty International.