‘If they don’t stop, Tehran will turn into Gaza’: Iranians describe night of terror

Sleeplessness, fear and exhaustion gripped residents of Tehran as successive waves of strikes struck the Iranian capital, judging from messages sent by people in the city after the latest overnight onslaught, which several described as the worst bombardment in six days of war.With Iran imposing a near-total internet blackout, information emerging from inside the country is fragmentary and difficult to verify. But in a series of accounts sent through proxy connections, and calls with friends abroad, Tehranis described a night of intense explosions.Zahra, a teacher and mother of one living in central Tehran, said the strikes, in what she said was the heaviest attack to date, had left her deeply worried for civilians who found themselves in danger not just from Iran’s attackers but from their own government.“This is the first time since the war began that I am genuinely scared for my fellow Iranians,” said Zahra*. “We are trapped between the regime that is killing us with machine guns, and a foreign power has likely decided that we are collateral damage.”Smoke billows after an airstrike in the Iranian capital earlier this week. Photograph: Wana News Agency/ReutersAlthough she had protested against the government in January and had celebrated the killing of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in the first few seconds of the war a week ago, she has become increasingly fearful of the civilian toll.“The initial joy of the regime’s leaders paying the price is soon turning into fear. Who will be left in free Iran if we all get killed?” Zahra said.She described Thursday night as being unlike anything she had experienced before. “I don’t think I have ever experienced a night like this before or even seen [anything like it] in the movies. I am really scared, especially because I am in total information blackout.”“If they don’t stop now, Tehran will turn into Gaza,” said Farzad*, a 36-year-old who has fled the city. “We can now tell the difference between the sounds of fighter jets, air defence, and missiles. Sometimes we stand together and watch the trails of hypersonic missiles in the sky.”Damage to the Golestan Palace complex in Tehran. Photograph: Sobhan Farajvan/Pacific Press/Shutterstock“It saddens me that most people around me are happy with this situation, the pro-regime ones too and those against the regime too. Both for different reasons. No one cares about innocent lives,” Farzad said. “In the end, it feels like what people say: ‘Whether the wolf is killed, or the wolf devours the shepherd, everyone is caught in the tragedy.’”A Tehran-based reporter in the eastern part of the city described being woken by violent explosions. “I was asleep, and somehow over the past few days I got sleep because we got used to the sounds of explosions. But early this morning, the situation has turned really scary. The windows were shaking and I could hear people shouting.“We were not hit, but I thought the ceiling would fall on me and I would die. I am devastated to see my beloved city being destroyed like this.”The reporter later went offline and could not be reached for updates.Other messages relayed to the Guardian through contacts abroad described similar scenes of panic across the capital. “Tonight was the worst! I woke up to the sound of fighter jets and then felt like the bombing was happening right in my ears. I really thought I was going to die,” one resident said.Another short Telegram message read: “I wasn’t far from dying tonight in the bombardment. But messaged to let you know we have fled the capital since.”What are Iran's military capabilities and how long can it sustain the war? – video explainerOnce the sun had risen on Friday, residents said the city felt subdued and partially deserted. Only a handful of grocery shops were open in the neighbourhoods of those who could be contacted, while many families were trying to leave the capital after the overnight strikes. “I hope I don’t come back to ruins,” one person said.Saeed, a Tehran University student, pleaded: “Please use your voice to ask Mr Trump if there is a plan to keep us safe while they go after military targets, because we are terrified that this morning’s strikes, which genuinely felt like the heaviest since Saturday, must have killed so many people.”A former political prisoner in west Tehran said fewer Tehranis had left the city than in the 12-day war last June, and that most shops had remained open despite the bombardment. “Since the 12-day war, people are stuck at a historical crossroads: on one side they are killed by their own government, and on the other side by the state of Israel,” she said.“The reality is that the finger of blame should be pointed at the government that caused this destruction and devastation, and that is now burning in the very fire it lit itself. What I or ordinary people think about the war, or what situation we are in, doesn’t really matter when it has no effect on the equation.”She added: “Last night they hit central Tehran with B-2s. This morning, for the second time, I really felt very close to death.”A human rights activist in central Tehran said: “Now, it’s strange that because of the propaganda, most people think that the more they bomb, the weaker this government will get. That’s their opinion. In the intellectual class there are many anti-war individuals, but at the grassroots level, no. People have seen so much hardship that they think the more they bomb, it seems the majority of people on the streets are actually happier.”* Names have been changed