'What ought to we do?' Searching for readability in Tehran as Israeli jets fly overhead

[ad_1] Kasra Naji Particular correspondent, BBC Persian

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/340a/live/b0d83fc0-4c42-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Xinhua/Shutterstock Mobile phone photo shows smoke rising in Tehran, Iran (17 June 2025)" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Xinhua/Shutterstock 1000's of persons are fleeing Tehran as Israel continues with its air strikes

Worry and stress are evident in my sister's voice in Tehran, regardless of the crackling, intermittent WhatsApp connection that - miraculously - nonetheless works sometimes.

Readability is what she desires from me, realizing I'm a journalist with the BBC in London.

"What will occur? What ought to we do?" she asks. US President Donald Trump has stated folks in Tehran ought to evacuate. "Is he severe?"

Since Thursday night time, Tehran has come underneath repeated bombardment by Israeli planes, which appear to be flying freely throughout the skies of the capital. They're met by anti-aircraft fireplace – which is usually ineffective.

From her window on the higher flooring of a high-rise constructing, my sister can clearly see the motion, which does little to calm her nerves.

The Israeli navy has ordered folks in her district - stretching for a number of kilometres in all instructions - to evacuate. However she has chosen to remain.

She instructed me that, so far as she knew, there have been no military-type targets close to her residence block.

Nonetheless, she was involved a couple of close by business unit - owned, she believed, by the Revolutionary Guards - which is likely to be a goal. She had no concept what the corporate really did.

Many individuals have no idea who their neighbours are or whether or not navy targets are close by, since a lot of the Revolutionary Guards' exercise is performed secretly and from hidden places.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/50fd/live/50162fc0-4c3e-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="EPA People walk shuttered shops inside the closed Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran (16 June 2025)" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> EPA Retailers had been shuttered at Tehran's Grand Bazaar on Monday

Electrical energy and water are nonetheless obtainable in lots of elements of the capital, however meals provides are operating low.

Many retailers have closed, and extra are shutting their doorways. Even bakeries are closing – some because of lack of flour, others seemingly as a result of the house owners have fled.

My sister has refused to depart town, in contrast to the a whole bunch of hundreds - maybe hundreds of thousands - who have already got, principally as a result of she has nowhere to go.

Regardless of jam-packed roads and petrol shortages, many residents have fled in latest days.

The streets of Tehran, as soon as chock-a-block with visitors, at the moment are eerily quiet.

Those that stay barely enterprise out, fearing assaults.

Latest experiences recommend the lengthy queues at petrol stations have begun to ease, and the roads out of the capital are much less congested.

Residents residing close to the nation's nuclear amenities face the extra concern of the unfold of radioactive contamination, as these websites have been focused repeatedly by Israeli strikes in latest days.

The worldwide nuclear watchdog has up to now stated the degrees of radioactivity exterior two websites which had been attacked and broken on Friday are unchanged.

Individuals are asking the place all this may lead, and the way lengthy it should final.

Many now depend on Persian-language TV channels primarily based overseas for information.

BBC Persian's TV service and its web site have grow to be key sources. Net visitors from inside Iran has doubled virtually in a single day, regardless of the web being painfully gradual more often than not.

Trump has referred to as for Iran's give up, however Iran's Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has simply declared that Iran is not going to give up.