‘I do not need Tehran to show into Gaza’: Iranians on Israeli strikes

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Lengthy queues at petrol stations and bakeries. Lengthy traces of vehicles making an attempt to flee the capital. And lengthy, scary nights.

Residents of Tehran - nonetheless shocked by Israel's sudden assault on Iran within the early hours of Friday morning - communicate of concern and confusion, a sense of helplessness and conflicting feelings.

"We've not slept for nights," a 21-year-old music pupil informed me over an encrypted social media app.

"Everyone seems to be leaving however I am not. My dad says it is extra honourable to die in your personal home than to run away."

'Donya' - she does not wish to reveal her actual title - is certainly one of many Iranians now caught in a conflict between a regime she loathes and Israel, whose harmful energy in Gaza she has witnessed on display screen from afar.

"I actually don't desire my lovely Tehran to show into Gaza," she mentioned.

As for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's name on Iranians to stand up towards their clerical management, she has a agency response.

"We do not need Israel to save lots of us. No overseas nation ever cared for Iran," she mentioned. "We additionally don't desire the Islamic Republic."

One other girl mentioned that in the first place she had felt a "unusual pleasure" to see Israel kill Iranian navy officers so highly effective that she thought they'd reside for ever.

"Abruptly that picture of energy was shattered," she informed BBC Persian.

"However from the second day, after I heard that common individuals - individuals I did not know, individuals like me - had additionally been killed, I began to really feel sorrow, concern and disappointment."

And she or he mentioned her disappointment turned to anger when she heard that the South Pars fuel subject had been hit, fearing that Israel was making an attempt to show Iran "into ruins".

For the primary time in her life, she mentioned, she has began to organize for the concept of dying.

Greater than 220 individuals - lots of them girls and kids - have been killed since Friday, in accordance with the Iranian authorities.

Israeli authorities say Iranian missiles have killed no less than 24 individuals in Israel over the identical interval.

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Not like in Israel, there are not any warnings of imminent assaults in Iran, and no shelters to run to.

Missiles fall from the sky however a marketing campaign of automotive bombs in Tehran - as reported by each Israeli and Iranian media - has sewn additional panic and confusion.

Even some supporters of the regime are reported to be upset that its much-vaunted defences have been so completely uncovered.

And, amongst many Iranians, mistrust within the authorities runs deep.

Donya used to defy the regime and its strict costume code by going out together with her hair uncovered.

Now, together with her college exams postponed till subsequent week, she's staying at house.

"I get so terrified at night time," she mentioned. "I take some tablets to assist me calm down and attempt to sleep."

The Iranian authorities has prompt that folks shelter in mosques and metro stations.

However that's exhausting, when the explosions appear to return out of nowhere.

"Tehran is an enormous metropolis and but each neighbourhood has been by some means affected by the injury," one other younger girl informed BBC Persian.

"For now, all we do is test the information each hour and name the buddies and kinfolk whose neighbourhood has been hit to verify they're nonetheless alive."

She and her household have now left their house to remain in an space the place there are not any recognized authorities buildings.

However you by no means know, in a rustic like Iran, who could also be residing subsequent to you.

The Israeli assault has divided Iranians, she mentioned, with some celebrating the regime's losses, whereas others are indignant at these cheering Israel on.

Many Iranians hold altering their minds about what they assume. Divisions are bitter, even amongst some households.

"The state of affairs appears like the primary hours after the Titanic hit the iceberg," the lady mentioned.

"Some individuals have been making an attempt to flee, some have been saying it wasn't an enormous deal, and others saved dancing."

She has all the time protested towards Iran's clerical rulers, she informed the BBC, however sees what Netanyahu is doing to her nation as "inexcusable".

"Everybody's life, whether or not they supported the assaults or not, has been modified ceaselessly.

"Most Iranians, even those that oppose the federal government, have now realised that freedom and human rights do not come from Israeli bombs falling on cities the place defenceless civilians reside."

She added: "Most of us are scared and apprehensive about what's coming subsequent. We have packed baggage with first support provides, meals, and water, simply in case issues worsen."

Israel says the Iranian armed forces have intentionally positioned their command centres and weapons inside civilian buildings and areas.

Members of Iran's massive diaspora are additionally apprehensive.

"It is exhausting to convey what it is wish to be an Iranian proper now," says Dorreh Khatibi-Hill, a Leeds-based girls's rights activist and researcher who's in contact with household, associates and different anti-regime activists.