The extent of the damage inside Iran from the week-old bombing campaign has become far more difficult to assess in recent days, with the authorities apparently seeking to prevent panic by limiting information.
Iran has stopped giving updates on the death toll, and state media have ceased showing widespread images of destruction. The internet has been almost completely shut down. The public has been banned from filming, with the authorities citing a risk of espionage.
Arash, 33, a government employee in Tehran, said a building next to his home in Tehran’s Shahrak-e Gharb neighbourhood had been destroyed in the strikes. “I saw at least three dead children and two women in that building. Is this how Netanyahu plans to ‘liberate’ Iranians? Stay away from our country,” he told Reuters by telephone.
Israel has issued evacuation orders for whole sections of Tehran, a city of 10 million. Thousands of residents have fled, jamming the highways out.
Samira, 11, had moved in with her grandparents in the northwestern city of Urmia, her family having fled Tehran when a shopping centre near their house was struck. She said she hasn’t been able to sleep at night.
“I’m afraid Israel will hit our home, and my mom will die. I’m too scared. I just want to go home,” she said by phone.
