Terrified residents of the Iranian capital described it as a ghost town on Sunday, and Tehran's streets were almost empty after the US-Israeli missile strike, BTA writes, citing "Reuters".
Air strikes have killed hundreds of Iranians since Saturday, while Israeli and US leaders have expressed hope that they will spark an uprising, but Reuters found no evidence of such a move in telephone conversations with people across the country.
“There are checkpoints on every street and alley“, said Fariba Gerami, 27, works for a company in northern Tehran, where her husband runs a small café. Power and water cuts since the bombings began have added to her fears, and at night she and her friends fear thieves will break into their apartments. The family plans to leave Iran as soon as it is safe to do so, but is concerned about road safety, she added.
BUILDINGS DAMAGED, CARS DAMAGED
Two Iranians who arrived in Turkey through a border crossing yesterday described the tension and fear felt in Tehran: “Children were screaming and crying”, said one Iranian citizen, who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that the strikes on residential buildings had instilled fear in the city's residents.
The second man said the destruction was widespread. “We saw a lot of destroyed buildings, especially on the road leaving the country. There are a lot of destroyed buildings, a lot of cars and streets destroyed. People are too scared to leave the country. They don't know what to do," he said.
SCHOOL AND HOSPITAL ATTACKS
For those unable to leave the capital, the anxiety is immense, as on Monday strikes hit a hospital near Tehran, causing damage and forcing the evacuation of those inside.
In addition to fears of more civilian casualties, the anxiety is also heightened by the attack on a girls' school in southern Iran in the early hours of the war, with authorities putting the death toll at 150. Reuters has not been able to confirm that number.
At the girls' funeral yesterday, their small coffins, draped in Iranian flags, were carried by truck through a large crowd, carried across the sea with raised arms to the cemetery, as video on state television showed. TV.
“World, do you see? They are killing us. Hear our voice“, said Firuze Seraj, speaking through tears from Tehran. “My 10-year-old daughter is on dialysis and now we are trapped. I am afraid to take her to the hospital. What if they bomb her? Why are you bombing us?“, she said.
Iran said the death toll in the attacks had reached 787, citing the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
Tehran responded to the US-Israeli attack with airstrikes in several countries in the Middle East, hitting both military and civilian targets in Israel, Jordan and the Gulf monarchies.
LACK OF SHELTER, PEOPLE STOCKING UP WITH FOOD
The anger over the unfolding catastrophe in Iran has also been directed at the country's leaders themselves. News of Khamenei's death on Saturday sparked spontaneous celebrations in parts of Tehran, although supporters of the Islamic Republic's authorities organized mourning processions.
However, there was no return to the massive anti-government protests across the country in early January that killed thousands and were crushed by a wave of state violence.
A retired army officer from a city in northern Iran who gave his name as Hassan blamed the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes and whose nuclear policy put Iran at odds with the West: "Khamenei is dead, but the consequences of years of his stubbornness are still killing the Iranian people," he said. "Why so much hostility towards the world? What have we gained from this nuclear program besides bombings, isolation and misery?" Why are we living under bombs?
In Urmia, a city near the borders with Turkey and Iraq, a woman who asked to be called Shahla said the previous night's bombing was the worst yet. "I was terrified. There are no shelters. There is no help. They are bombing everywhere. The internet is down. We are stockpiling food," she said.
Like other Iranians contacted by Reuters, she said food and medicine were still available in stores, but she worried that supplies would start to run out and people were buying up supplies just in case the conflict dragged on.
An elderly woman in the Gulf city of Bushehr, home to Iran's only nuclear power plant, said she feared she would never see her children who live abroad again. "My children are calling me, but even the internet is not working well. I am afraid, very afraid that I may never see them again and that I may die in these bombings," said Fatemeh, 80.