“If they don't stop, Tehran will become Gaza.” Testimonies from Iran after the “heaviest night” of bombings

Insomnia, fear and exhaustion gripped the residents of Tehran after several successive waves of attacks hit the Iranian capital, according to messages sent by people in the city. Several of them described to The Guardian the attacks from Thursday night to Friday as the most intense of the six days of war.

With Iran imposing an almost complete internet blackout, information coming out of the country is fragmented and difficult to verify.

However, in a series of accounts relayed through proxy connections and in phone calls to friends abroad, residents of Tehran described a night marked by intense explosions.

“Who will be left in a free Iran if we are all killed?”

Zahra, a teacher and mother of one who lives in central Tehran, said the strikes, which she described as the most intense yet, made her fear deeply for civilians who are at risk not only from Iran's attackers but also from its own government.

“This is the first time since the beginning of the war that I am truly afraid for other Iranians. We are caught between the regime that is killing us with machine guns and a foreign power that has most likely decided that we are collateral victims,” ​​Zahra said.

The names of people who sent messages to The Guardian have been changed to protect their identities.

Although she had taken part in anti-government protests in January and said she welcomed the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the early hours of the war a week ago, the woman says she has grown increasingly concerned about the number of civilian casualties.

“The initial joy that regime leaders are paying for what they have done quickly turns to fear. Who will be left in a free Iran if we are all killed?” Zahra said.

She described Thursday night as unlike anything she had ever experienced. “I don't think I've ever experienced a night like this before, and I haven't even seen anything like it in the movies. I'm really scared, especially because we're in a complete information blackout.”

“If they don't stop now, Tehran will become Gaza,” said Farzad, a 36-year-old man who fled the city. “Now we can tell the difference between the sound of fighter jets, anti-aircraft defenses and missiles. Sometimes we sit together and watch the trajectories of hypersonic missiles in the sky.”

“It saddens me that most people around me are happy with this situation, both pro-regime and anti-regime. Each for different reasons. No one seems to care about innocent lives,” Farzad said. “In the end, it's just like the saying goes: 'Whether the wolf is killed or the wolf devours the shepherd, everyone gets caught up in the tragedy.'”

“Tonight was the hardest”

A reporter in Tehran, in the eastern part of the city, said he was awakened by violent explosions. “I was sleeping and somehow in the last few days I had managed to sleep because we got used to the sound of the explosions. But early in the morning the situation became really scary. The windows were shaking and we could hear people screaming.

We weren't hit directly, but I thought the ceiling was going to fall on me and I was going to die. I am devastated to see my city, which I love, being destroyed like this.”

The reporter later went offline and could not be reached for updates.

Other messages sent to The Guardian via contacts abroad describe similar scenes of panic in the capital. “This night was the hardest! I woke up to fighter jets, then it felt like the bombing was right next to my ears. I really thought I was going to die,” said one resident.

Another short message, sent on Telegram, said: “I was not far from death in the bombing last night. I am only writing to let you know that I have fled the capital in the meantime.”

“Please ask Trump if there is a plan to keep us safe”

Saeed, a student at the University of Tehran, launched an appeal: “Please use your voice to ask Mr. Trump if there is a plan to keep us safe while they hit military targets, because we are horrified that in this morning's attacks, which indeed appeared to be the most intense since Saturday, very many people have been killed.”

A former political prisoner in western Tehran said fewer residents had left the city than during the 12-day war last June.

“The reality is that the blame must be placed on the government that caused this destruction and devastation and is now burning in the fire that it started. What I or ordinary people think about the war, or the situation we're in, doesn't really matter when it has no effect on the equation,” she said.

“Last night they hit the center of Tehran with B-2 bombers. And this morning, for the second time, I really felt that I was very close to death,” she continued.

A human rights activist in central Tehran said: “Now it's strange that because of propaganda, most people think that the more they bomb, the weaker this government will become. That's their opinion. There are many anti-war people in intellectual circles, but not among the common people. People have been through so much hardship that I think as the bombing continues, most people on the street seem even more satisfied.”