Checkpoints, airstrikes and hope: a Tehran resident tells her story

Torn between hope and fear, a Tehran resident in her 30s agrees to share her thoughts with AFP about the ongoing war and daily life.

We are withholding her identity for her protection. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation:

How is daily life in Tehran?

People left in waves, especially those who were next to targets.

The financial situation is very bad. My job has been halted and I am spending out of my savings. Going away has costs too, so this may be one of the reasons why people are leaving Tehran less now, along with Trump saying civilians would be safe.

You can still do your shopping though. For petrol, they went from 30 litres maximum to 20. I didn’t take any petrol because I have enough. But I heard from a friend that at one petrol station, they capped it at five litres.

Thankfully, we haven’t had to go to a hospital yet but apparently they work fine.

How is the security situation?

Even the smallest police stations are closed, so officers don’t have anywhere to go. For the rest (the military), it’s even worse because they have hit all their bases.

The only way they can show that they’re there and that the situation is under control is to put checkpoints around the place.

I didn’t have to stop at any of the checkpoints I passed through, but I’ve heard that they take people’s phones and they will type ‘Leader’, ‘Khamenei’.

Government supporters come to the streets with flags and signs chanting “God is the greatest “ around 10pm -10:30pm.

Do you know people directly affected by airstrikes?

The house of my friend’s mother is in front of the Public Security Police station in Gisha (an upmarket area of central Tehran). The windows of part of the building facade were blown off completely.

They hit Gisha pretty bad. Another friend from Gisha said they were scared to open their eyes after the strikes for fear of finding themselves either dead or without a roof.

The Niloufar Square police station was a huge one. When they hit it, the strikes were so intense that the square has expanded by a street. The destruction was huge. I went to see myself.

A person I know owns a shop there; they could only recover a few boxes of merchandise from the back. The store is destroyed.

How are you sleeping?

I don’t hear much where I am. One night, they hit an area close to me and it felt like someone was taking off the entrance door to the building. But I have a friend in Tehran-Pars (a suburb northeast of Tehran), she takes sleeping pills because of the noise.

Another friend who is close to Mehrabad (central Tehran) said that the night they hit the airport, they spent a couple of hours in the bathroom. They felt like the roof was falling down on them.

But Tehran is big and the experiences are quite different.