CNN
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Life is full of uncertainty after days of aggressive strikes between Israel and Iran for civilians caught up in the Israeli bombing campaign.
“This is war,” Tehran, the 58-year-old father of two in the capital, told CNN, adding, “No one really understands what that means.”
A week after the conflict, contact with the outside world for Iranians is difficult, hampered by sporadic internet and telephone coverage. Some – usually wealthy activists – have access to StarLink terminals, which provide independent internet access.
Speaking through audio recordings, messages and occasional phone calls, all those interviewed asked CNN not to reveal their names for fear of retaliation from Iranian authorities.
Life has discovered a new wartime rhythm, they said, local shops are still open, but some are accepting credit payments, the two’s fathers told CNN. This credit, which cannot withdraw money from Iran’s Sepa Bank, has become a lifeline.
“We have electricity, but gasoline is useless for us, so we have nowhere to go outside of Tehran,” he said.
He glued to television after seeing London-based Iranian broadcasters illegal and said his family had not left their home recently.
“Daily life is full of constant fear and distrust,” he said.
From Shiraz in southern Iran, the 55-year-old English teacher described a “large group of people” waiting to withdraw cash at a bank branch in the city centre.
“The workers were totally overwhelmed and said they couldn’t handle all these cash requests. I’m not saying it’s confusing, but I feel there’s a sense of the underlying panic,” he said.
Destruction and despair
“It feels like the missiles are chasing me. I’m going to Karaj and bombing there. I’m coming to Tehran and they’re bombing here,” the 27-year-old conscription soldier told CNN. Posted in Tehran, he was able to visit his family in Karaj over the weekend, but military rules in the capital prohibit the use of his phone and other devices. “I can’t even check the news.”
Shiraz’s hairdresser said, “I don’t even know what to say. You’re watching the video, watching the photos. People are being killed.
“Israel and the United States don’t care about the people of Iran,” she said. “You want to hit a real target, but it’s surrounded by ordinary people. They’re destroying the country.”
A 22-year-old janitor at a Tehran apartment told CNN.
More than 200 people have been killed in Iran, and Israel’s strike has taken away much of its important leadership in the country’s military and nuclear programmes, according to Tehran. However, Iran has accused Israel of targeting its energy and digital infrastructure.
“We are paying the price for the dictatorship and its rog arrogance,” she shared a nurse in Mashad, northeastern Iran, where his father was an ornamented war veteran. “But now, all the troops (in the area) have been destroyed, so it appears that it’s a turn of its own,” she added.
Seeing the attacks on the deeply unpopular regime, some Iranians have confessed that they would welcome the strike even if civilians were caught in the bombing.
“I want to say what I really feel,” a Shiraz student told CNN:
“Even so, I say that, I’m really happy. I’m really, really, deeply happy!” she added. “I believe it’s worth it for future generations.”
However, even if diplomatic channels for peace begin to coalesce a week after the battle, there are no signs of the end of the bombing yet. Uncertainty is only driven by the US president bullying the possibility that US aircraft will take part in bombing campaigns.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned that America’s involvement in Israel’s military movement would “fall 100% into their loss,” and denounced Trump’s call for surrender.
Other Iranians share his rebellion.
“The mood in Iran is beginning to transform into a nationalist environment,” according to a 69-year-old Iranian-American woman visiting Tehran. “When we left town, I saw many cars waving the flag of the Islamic Republic through their windows.”
“I lost my son during the Iran-Iraq War and am pleased to fight America and the Zionists again,” the 78-year-old mosque caretaker in Isfahan told CNN.
The outlook for peace looks slim, one engineering student from Mashad told CNN.
“Now that Trump has come this far, he’ll see it all the way through. They won’t let the injured bear go free,” she said.