A Chilean Cyclist and His Dog Get Caught up in the Israel-Iran War

Asharq Al-Awsat

9 hours ago

Diego Haro, a Chilean traveler from one of the world's southernmost towns, never thought biking across Iran with his dog Mirlo would be easy.
For all the World Heritage sites, street skewers and breathtaking scenery, there were plenty of downsides to expect if recent years were any guide, including Iranian security forces' increasingly frequent arrests of foreigner tourists and dual nationals on suspicion of espionage and other offenses.
Haro, 31, from Chile's remote Punta Arenas, had already biked across 20 countries from Bolivia to Armenia in the last two years. But he said he never imagined that his journey would involve sheltering from Israeli airstrikes that plunged the regional foes into 12 days of open warfare this month.
A shaky ceasefire has held since Tuesday.
"Traveling is generally a constant source of uncertainty," he told The Associated Press in a video call from Yüksekova, in eastern Türkiye.
He fled across the border to Türkiye last Sunday with Mirlo, his 3-year-old mixed breed, seeking safety as Israeli attacks ground on.
"There are things that you don't think will happen, but they do," he said.
Haro had been traveling in the northern Kurdistan province for around six weeks, sleeping in tents in the countryside or depending on the hospitality of strangers, when, on June 13, Israeli warplanes crossed into Iranian airspace and suddenly struck the country's military and nuclear sites.
Having never experienced war, the Chilean recalled his fear as explosions lit up the night sky. "Every night there were explosions," he said. "Mirlo was super scared too."
Iran on Tuesday put the death toll in Iran at 606, with 5,332 people wounded, though their casualty figures in the past have downplayed losses. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group released figures Wednesday suggesting Israeli strikes on Iran had killed at least 1,054 and wounded 4,476. In Israel, at least 28 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war.
Tehran emptied out as the Israeli military issued evacuation orders and Haro scrambled to revise his original plan of reaching the Iranian capital.
"The only goal I had in mind was to try to get out of Iran as soon as possible," he said.
Since June 13, flights into and out of Iran have been suspended. In hopes of crossing the border on foot, he turned back and headed for Türkiye, cycling over 400 kilometers (250 miles) to reach Urmia, in Iran's northeast.
As Iranian authorities began to grasp the extent of the war's damage to their security and military apparatus, paranoia grew over apparent Israeli infiltration. Over 50 people were arrested on suspicion of ties to Israel and charged with "operating drones to film public and strategic sites," the semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported.
Haro said he felt he was being watched. One night last week, six gunmen pulled up in an unlicensed vehicle next to him, forced him to get inside and blindfolded him as they took his passport and drove around asking him questions until dawn about why he was in the country, he said. They did not identify themselves, he added.
He struggled to explain his worldwide bike tour with his dog as none of them understood English, let alone Spanish. The next afternoon, he got his passport back and was granted permission to leave.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Haro's brief detention.
The first thing he did after crossing to Türkiye with Mirlo was buy a SIM card and call his mother, he recalled.
Iran's government imposed a nationwide internet shutdown and he hadn't spoken with any friends or family in over five days.
"My mom couldn't stop crying," he said.