Michael Barbaro

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro.

This is The Daily.

On Sunday, the United States and Israel pounded Iran with missiles for a second straight day, destroying more and more power centers of the regime and, according to rights groups, bringing the civilian death toll there to well over 100.

Meanwhile...

Iran unleashed a wave of retaliatory attacks that proved deadly.

Three U.S.

troops were killed in action, becoming the first Americans to die in the war.

But increasingly, all eyes were on the Iranian government and the millions of citizens who have long opposed it.

And the looming question became whether a weakened Islamic Republic could actually be toppled by its own people.

Today, my colleague Farnaz Fasihi brings us the view of this pivotal moment from inside Iran.

It's Monday, March 2nd.

Farnaz, thank you for making time for us on a Sunday.

Really appreciate it.

So, Farnaz, for the people of Iran and for the massive diaspora of Iranians who live outside of the country, including you...

Sunday, today, as we speak, it's one of those hinge days in history.

There was a before and there was an after.

And right now, the after is a world in which Iran's supreme leader, who has been in power for over three decades, has been killed and is no longer in power.

Wow.

And when you say diaspora, you quite literally mean families who were once together in Iran and presumably scattered to the winds across the world once the Islamic Revolution came in 1979?

Yeah.