War reduces Iran's bustling capital to empty streets, boarded-up shops and fear

Sayeh Rahimy reports from Tehran, which feels abandoned

- Sayeh Rahimy

While Iranian officials continue to issue confident claims that they are "fully prepared", "responding decisively" and "managing the crisis", the reality on the ground tells a very different story. On day six of Israeli strikes, Iranians were facing streets filled with fear, empty shelves at stores, long queues for bread and fuel, and promises of bomb shelters that do not actually exist. In a country that does not even have functioning air raid sirens, what people are feeling deeply, in every sense, is a slow collapse of both safety and hope. Even if they survive the missiles, the trauma of these days will linger for years.

Empty shops, trembling hands, anxious hearts

Reports from Tehran and other Iranian cities reveal that despite decades of threats against Israel, the Islamic Republic has no real plan in place to protect civilians during wartime. Now, the same population already battered by the regime's chronic mismanagement and deepening economic hardship is facing the added burden of war, and all the suffering that comes with it.

"There's visible anxiety on people's faces. Parents are deeply worried about their children, and those with little financial means look like they've aged years in just days," says a food vendor in northeast Tehran, who has witnessed the panic-buying first hand, as he describes the slow unravelling of daily life.

He says all bottled water and packaged food sold out quickly, and those who could not afford to stock up are now under immense psychological and financial stress.

"War doesn't just hit people with missiles and drones - it crushes their mental health too," he tells Independent Persian.