On the ground in Tehran in the wake of the Israel-Iran ceasefire
On the ground in Tehran in the wake of the Israel-Iran ceasefire
Tehran — As the delicate ceasefire in the Israel-Iran conflict continues to hold, a CBS News crew received permission to enter Iran Wednesday to see how conditions are on the ground in its capital of Tehran. The Iranian government maintains tight control over its media and closely monitors foreign journalists.
It took a CBS News crew more than 14 hours to drive south from Turkey to Tehran.
The crew started its journey from the Turkish-Iranian border Tuesday night local time, a nearly 600-mile trip made longer by checkpoints and bad roads. CBS News applied for Iranian visas last week and they were granted Monday.
As day broke Wednesday, CBS News travelled through a vast countryside that was arid, rocky and seemingly endless.
CBS News was forced to drive in because even though there is a ceasefire that took effect earlier this week, Iran's airspace was closed, but has since partially reopened.
Those with means have either fled to neighboring countries or found safety away from major cities.
Lines of cars at a gas station in Iran due to a gas shortage as a result of the Israel-Iran war. June 25, 2025.
CBS News
The war has triggered chronic fuel shortages. CBS News saw long lines at gas stations as people waited hours to fill their tanks.
CBS News reached Tehran to find a city slowly coming back to life after 12 days of near constant Israeli strikes. CBS News needed government permission to visit areas that were heavily damaged by the Israeli strikes, something it did not receive Wednesday.
Last week, President Trump urged the entire city of Tehran, a population of more than nine million people — roughly that of New York City — to evacuate. Most remained, and with the ceasefire still in place, some have started to venture out of their homes.
At Firdous Park, a historic meeting spot for Iranian thinkers and writers, a few of the cafés and restaurants had reopened and attracted students like 32-year-old Mohammed Raziq.
People at a cafe in the Iranian capital of Tehran on June 25, 2025.
CBS News
"I hope it's going to be continued," Raziq said of the ceasefire. "You know, war is not good, and my people don't like wars."
Still, life in Tehran remains far from normal. This metropolis is the seat of power of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who still looms large, including at near daily rallies by hardline supporters.
But Khamenei has continued to remain out of sight. And until he addresses the nation, the Iranians CBS News spoke to say they feel they don't know what might happen next. Raziq indicated that even if Iranians are divided about the regime, they are united about the belief in their country.
"People in Iran have many ideas, but about war, they have one heart," Raziq said. "This is how I think about my people."
In the Iranian capital of Tehran on June 25, 2025.
CBS News
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
43 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Ayatollah Has a Plan
The United States' attack on Iran's nuclear sites last weekend, following a weeklong Israeli bombing campaign, has marked a turning point for Iran. Washington's involvement in the conflict represents one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its founding in 1979 and is a moment of truth for the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has maintained Iran's hostility to the West during his 36 years in power. Now the future of the country's nuclear program, and the fate of the tenuous cease-fire with Israel, rests in his hands — and even in the face of grave threat, he is unlikely to back down. Iran's rulers are no strangers to war. Many of the country's top leaders, including its president, foreign minister and key military figures, are veterans of Iran's long war with Iraq in the 1980s, a grinding struggle that cost Iran billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives. Under Ayatollah Khamenei, who served as president from 1981 to 1988 and became Iran's supreme leader in 1989, the lessons of that brutal conflict have come to undergird the regime's worldview — and its national security policy. As Ayatollah Khamenei sees it, Iran is locked in a struggle for survival with the United States and its allies, including Israel. The policies he has pursued in the decades since he came to power — domestic repression, nuclear expansion and support for proxy militias including Hamas and Hezbollah — have all been in the service of winning that contest. His distrust of Washington has only deepened since Donald Trump's 2018 withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal Tehran negotiated with the Obama administration. The Islamic Republic understands its limitations in this struggle. Its military is woefully inadequate in the face of more advanced U.S. weaponry. Its economy has been severely constrained by international sanctions. And in recent years, Iranians have revolted against the regime's policy of perpetual resistance against the West, as well as against the regime's repressive domestic policies. The United States has also maintained a robust presence in the region, with tens of thousands of troops stationed across a network of bases. If this history is anything to go by, Ayatollah Khamenei will not retreat, let alone surrender. He has, for now, accepted a cease-fire with Israel — but only because he is confident that Iran held its ground in the face of U.S. and Israeli strikes. In the past, too, he has made concessions when necessary. Tehran entered both the 2015 nuclear deal and the most recent round of nuclear negotiations with the United States in order to relieve economic pressure. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News24
44 minutes ago
- News24
Trump slams report Iran moved uranium before strikes, even as nuclear watchdog ‘lost visibility'
The Trump administration is furious at suggestions that its strikes on Iran only set the nuclear programme months. It also rejects suggestions that Iran could have moved enriched uranium before the attacks. The IAEA said that Iran was not complying with obligations but did not find that Tehran was making a nuclear bomb. US President Donald Trump's administration hit back on Wednesday at accounts Iran may have moved enriched uranium before US bombing, as a row grew on how much the strikes set back Tehran's nuclear programme. Trump, seeking credit for ordering military action and then quickly announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, has lashed out angrily at media accounts of a classified report that doubted the extent of damage to Iranian nuclear sites. Another key question raised by experts is whether Iran, preparing for the strike, moved out some 400kg of enriched uranium - which could now be hidden elsewhere in the vast country. 'I can tell you, the United States had no indication that that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strikes, as I also saw falsely reported,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. 'As for what's on the ground right now, it's buried under miles and miles of rubble because of the success of these strikes on Saturday evening,' she said. Vice President JD Vance, asked about the uranium on Sunday, had sounded less definitive and said the US would discuss the issue with Iran. 'We're going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel,' Vance told ABC News programme This Week. The quantity of uranium had been reported by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, with which Iran is considering severing cooperation after the Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear programme. 'The IAEA lost visibility on this material the moment hostilities began,' the agency's chief, Rafael Grossi, told France 2 television. I don't want to give the impression that it's been lost or hidden. Rafael Grossi The US military said it dropped 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs - powerful 13 600kg weapons - on three Iranian nuclear sites. Trump has repeatedly said that the attack 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear facilities, including the key site of Fordo buried inside a mountain. But an initial classified assessment, first reported by CNN, was said to have concluded that the strike did not destroy key components and that Iran's nuclear programme was set back only months at most. Trump furiously lashed out at the CNN reporter behind the story, taking to his Truth Social platform to demand that the network fire her. Trump also said that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom he dubbed 'war' secretary, would hold a news conference at 08:00 (12:00 GMT) on Thursday to 'fight for the dignity of our great American pilots' after the media accounts on the efficacy of the strike he ordered. Satellite image © 2025 Maxar Technologies Trump's intelligence chiefs also pushed back on Wednesday. CIA Director John Ratcliffe in a statement said that new intelligence from a 'historically reliable' source indicated that 'several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years'. Iran's government has said that its nuclear facilities were 'badly damaged'. The uranium in question is enriched to 60% - above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade. The IAEA, in a report cited by the US and Israel to justify their attacks, said that Iran was not complying with obligations but did not find that Tehran was making a nuclear bomb. Israel is widely known to have nuclear weapons but does not publicly confirm nor deny its programme. The US is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in war.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Daddy's Home
President Trump torches leakers for pushing enemy propaganda, as NATO thanks 'Daddy' for brokering the ceasefire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit FOX News Radio
