The death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is deeply personal for a Brooklyn native. Barry Rosen, an East New York native, was taken hostage inside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 by the regime’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s followers.

A photo shows Rosen’s first moments of freedom after being held captive for 444 days. He survived mock executions, isolation and torture.

“There are moments in my life right now that remind me very much of what captivity meant to me,” Rosen said.

Rosen first went to Iran in 1967 with the Peace Corps.

“My experience in Iran was overwhelmingly positive. Iranian people are very friendly,” he said.

He later returned as a press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. That’s when he was captured during the Iran hostage crisis. Nearly five decades later, Rosen said he was struck by the timing of the news that Khamenei had died.

“This all occurred on my birthday, yesterday, my 82nd birthday,” Rosen said. “I think the death of Ali Khamenei absolutely is positive, but there is no way that this is the end of the Islamic Republic. There is a system there in Iran where there’ll be a replacement and the regime will continue.”

Rosen said the Iranian people do not deserve the regime currently in power, but he worries the death of its top leader may not bring sweeping change.

“I would tell those Iranians who are living within their homes and care about the change in the system to keep that going, but be careful,” he said. “We don’t know what will be happening in the near future. This could go on for a long time and I think only when we see a defection in the regime will I feel confident that these Iranians in Tehran and all over Iran will have an opportunity to change the system.”