Israel's airstrikes may be over for now, but fear still stalks Iran

A fresh terror has struck Tehran — a crackdown by a regime unable to protect its own citizens, reports Ruth Michaelson

- Ruth Michaelson

Every night for almost two weeks, Saba watched Israeli missiles dropping on Tehran through the windows of her home, fearing one would strike her building. “Anxiety and fear reigned,” said the 38-year-old marketing executive.

While the Iranian capital’s roads were clogged with traffic as many tried to flee - either to the mountains north of the capital or over the border into Turkey or Armenia - millions were either unable or unwilling to escape.

Saba and her husband decided to stay in the capital after instructing their families to leave, aiming to help the elderly and others forced to stay behind. “Some people either didn’t have the money, a place to stay or, like me, they didn’t want to leave their city. For people who stayed in Tehran, it meant surviving without a bomb shelter every single night.”

Alone government announcement that people could seek shelter in the subway system was undercut by her realisation that many stations were closed. The security forces patrolling the streets - the same ones who had been used to crush the Women, Life, Freedom protests three years earlier - did little to help her feel protected.

When Saba turned on state television channels, she watched reports from supermarkets of plentiful cheap food, an alternate reality from the one she was living, where long lines for bread sometimes resulted in there being none left.