“I don’t want Tehran to become a gas: Iranians of Israeli strikes

Long queues of gas stations and bakeries. Long lines of cars trying to escape from the capital. And long, frightening nights.

Tehran residents – still shocked by Israel’s sudden attack against Iran in the early hours of Friday morning – talk about fear and confusion, a sense of helplessness and contradictory emotions.

“We didn’t sleep for nights,” a 21-year-old music student told me for a social media encrypted app.

“Everyone is leaving, but I’m not. My father tells me it is more honest to die in your own house than to escape.”

Donna – she does not want to reveal her real name – is one of the many Iranians who are now caught in war between a regime that he hates and Israel, whose destructive power in gas has witnessed the screen from afar.

“I really don’t want my beautiful Tehran to become a gas,” she said.

As for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the call of Iranians to face their clerical guidance, she has a solid answer.

“We don’t want Israel to save us. No foreign country has ever cared for Iran,” she said. “We also do not want the Islamic Republic.”

Another woman said that she at first felt “strange excitement” to see Israel kill Iranian military officials so powerful that she thought they would live forever.

“Suddenly, this image of power was broken,” she told BBC Persian.

“But from the second day, when I heard that regular people – people I did not know, people like me – were also killed, I began to have grief, fear and sadness.”

And she said her sadness turned into anger when she heard that the South Pars gas field had been hit, fearing Israel was trying to turn Iran “into ruins”.

For the first time in her life, she said, she began to prepare for the idea of ​​dying.

More than 220 people – many women and children – have been killed by Friday, according to Iranian authorities.

The Israeli authorities claim that Iranian missiles killed at least 24 people in Israel in the same period.

Unlike Israel, there are no warnings about upcoming attacks in Iran and there are no shelters to move.

The rockets fall from the sky, but a campaign of car bombs in Tehran – as reported by both Israeli and Iranian media – sews extra panic and confusion.

Even some supporters of the regime have been reported to be upset that its much more important defenses have been so detailed.

And among many Iranians, the distrust of the authorities is deepening.

Donja used to oppose the regime and its strict dress code, out with uncovered hair.

Now, with her exams from the university, postponed until next week, she stays at home.

“I’m so horrified at night,” she said. “I take a few pills to help me relax and try to sleep.”

The Iranian government suggested that people shelter in mosques and metro stations.

But this is difficult when explosions seem to come out of nowhere.

“Tehran is a big city and yet every neighborhood has been affected by the damage in some way,” another young woman told the BBC Persian.

“For now, all we do is check the news every hour and call the friends and relatives whose neighborhood has been hit to make sure they are still alive.”

She and her family have already left their home to stay in an area where there are no known state buildings.

But you never know, in a country like Iran who can live next to you.

The Israeli attack has divided the Iranians, she said, some celebrating the regime’s losses, while others are angry with those who have cheered Israel.

Many Iranians continue to change their minds about what they think. The divisions are bitter, even among some families.

“The situation feels like the first hours after the Titanic hit the iceberg,” the woman said.

“Some people were trying to escape, some said it was not a big deal, while others continued to dance.”

She always protests against Iran’s clerical rulers, she told the BBC, but sees what Netanyahu is doing to her country as “irrefutable.”

“Everyone’s life, whether or not they have supported the attacks or not, has been changed forever.

“Most Iranians, even those who oppose the government, have now realized that human freedom and rights do not come from Israeli bombs that fall on cities where defenseless civilians live.”

She added: “Most of us are scared and worried about what follows.

Israel says the Iranian armed forces intentionally placed their command centers and weapons in civil buildings and areas.

Members of the Grand Diaspora of Iran are also worried.

“It is difficult to convey what it is like to be Iranian right now,” says Dork Hatibi-Hille, an activist and researcher of women based in Leeds, who is in connection with family, friends and other anti-rogue activists.

“You are happy that the members of the regime – who torture and kill people – are taken out.

“But we know that civilians die. It’s a devastating humanitarian disaster.”

And the Iranians do not receive accurate information about what is happening, she says.

“The main person in Iran – the supreme leader – is still alive as the Iranians run for their lives,” she adds.

“Nobody wants Iran to become another Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan. None of us want this war. We also want the regime.”