Terrified Iranians left to fend for themselves, as leaders play songs on TV
As Iran's president gathered his cabinet on Sunday afternoon to praise the armed forces for their performance, Tehran residents were filling their social media feeds with pictures and videos of fresh Israeli airstrikes that had destroyed buildings.
It was a dramatic split-screen moment, demonstrating how Iran's government has tried to portray strength since Israel began its attack on the country on Friday morning even as a terrified population has decried the absence of adequate safety instructions and evacuation orders.
That President Masoud Pezeshkian convened such a meeting of top officials in a single location – just days after Israeli forces had wiped out much of Iran's top military brass – showed an 'arrogance and lack of adherence to basic security protocol', Mohammad Ali Shabani, an Iranian-born scholar of the Middle East, wrote on X.
'They don't even need to look abroad for lessons at this point, yet refuse to learn,' he wrote.
Throughout Sunday and Monday, Iranian state television played clips of pro-government rallies and focused coverage on the damage in Israel wrought by Iran's retaliatory missile barrages. On Sunday, however, Tehran residents began a mass exodus from the capital city for fear of being caught up in the conflict.
Even after Israel issued an evacuation warning on Monday for part of Tehran, Iran's state-run television, whose offices are within that zone, continued as normal, airing videos of children singing patriotic songs and images of Iranian missiles hitting Israeli targets – up until the moment an Israeli strike hit the television studio. The news host sprang up from her chair, and a man, expressing defiance, could be heard saying 'God is great' on air.
Iranians complained in interviews about the slow, sparse provision of safety protocols and instructions from the government. These Iranians contrasted the government's relative silence on safety measures with its frequent use of text messages to admonish women over insufficiently modest attire.
To fill the vacuum, Iranians were turning to social media, friends and family, and foreign-based news outlets for information.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Mapping the Israel-Iran conflict: Where key nuclear sites, targets and United States military bases lie
Establishing the extent of the damage to key Iranian nuclear sites is challenging not just due to the repeated Israeli strikes targeting them, but also because both sides are supplying contrasting assessments on the success of the Israeli operation. Loading South of Tehran lies the Natanz nuclear facility, a complex at the heart of Iran's enrichment program that houses facilities including two enrichment plants: the underground Fuel Enrichment Plant and above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant. The Fordow enrichment facility is also south of Tehran, and is notably underground, making it harder to successfully hit. Further south, on the outskirts of Isfahan, Iran's second-largest city, is a large nuclear technology centre that includes the Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant and uranium conversion and storage facilities. On the Gulf Coast is the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is Iran's only operating nuclear power plant and uses Russian fuel that Russia takes back once it is spent. Further north, in addition to Tehran's nuclear research reactor, is the partially built heavy-water research reactor in Khondab, which Iran previously informed the International Atomic Energy Agency it had planned to start operating in 2026. Why is Iran's Fordow nuclear base a target? Dug deep into a mountain near Qom is the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, which is one of Iran's most heavily fortified nuclear sites, built in secrecy and designed for survivability. Loading It was exposed through Western intelligence in 2009, and its capacity to enrich uranium levels close to weapons-grade is what alarms the superpowers and makes it critical to Iran's nuclear program. In 2023, according to the IAEA, uranium enriched to a purity of 83.7 per cent was found at Fordow. Nuclear weapons need an enrichment level of 90 per cent. The fact that Fordow was designed as a fallback facility should other nuclear sites be compromised makes it a key stronghold for Iran, and a prime target for Israel – but it's understood Israel would be hard-pressed to destroy it without help from the US. Why does Israel need the United States' assistance to target Fordow? Fordow's underground nuclear facilities are understood to be 80 to 90 metres beneath the mountain's surface. It's impenetrable, even if Israel used the most advanced 'bunker buster' bombs in its arsenal for targeted aerial strikes. The 13,608-kilogram GBU-57A/B MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) is thought to be the only 'bunker buster' bomb that could reach the core buried below Fordow's surface, though that would still be likely to require multiple strikes. Loading Capable of burrowing through 60 metres of steel and rock before detonating, it was developed by the United States and is its largest non-nuclear bomb. Israel has requested it from the US, and the request has been denied multiple times. Only a B2 Stealth Bomber could carry the bomb due to its sheer size. How large is the United States' military presence in the Middle East? Iran has said it would target the United States' military bases in the Middle East should Trump enter the conflict on Israel's side in earnest. The United States has a significant military presence in the Middle East, with, per the Council on Foreign Relations, a broad network of sites spanning at least 19 locations, eight of which are permanent. Loading The permanent United States sites are understood to be in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Since October 7, 2023, several attacks purportedly by Iran-backed forces have occurred. Notably, in January 2024, three American soldiers were killed after a drone hit the Tower 22 military base in Jordan, near the Syrian border.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Mapping the Israel-Iran conflict: Where key nuclear sites, targets and United States military bases lie
Establishing the extent of the damage to key Iranian nuclear sites is challenging not just due to the repeated Israeli strikes targeting them, but also because both sides are supplying contrasting assessments on the success of the Israeli operation. Loading South of Tehran lies the Natanz nuclear facility, a complex at the heart of Iran's enrichment program that houses facilities including two enrichment plants: the underground Fuel Enrichment Plant and above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant. The Fordow enrichment facility is also south of Tehran, and is notably underground, making it harder to successfully hit. Further south, on the outskirts of Isfahan, Iran's second-largest city, is a large nuclear technology centre that includes the Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant and uranium conversion and storage facilities. On the Gulf Coast is the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is Iran's only operating nuclear power plant and uses Russian fuel that Russia takes back once it is spent. Further north, in addition to Tehran's nuclear research reactor, is the partially built heavy-water research reactor in Khondab, which Iran previously informed the International Atomic Energy Agency it had planned to start operating in 2026. Why is Iran's Fordow nuclear base a target? Dug deep into a mountain near Qom is the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, which is one of Iran's most heavily fortified nuclear sites, built in secrecy and designed for survivability. Loading It was exposed through Western intelligence in 2009, and its capacity to enrich uranium levels close to weapons-grade is what alarms the superpowers and makes it critical to Iran's nuclear program. In 2023, according to the IAEA, uranium enriched to a purity of 83.7 per cent was found at Fordow. Nuclear weapons need an enrichment level of 90 per cent. The fact that Fordow was designed as a fallback facility should other nuclear sites be compromised makes it a key stronghold for Iran, and a prime target for Israel – but it's understood Israel would be hard-pressed to destroy it without help from the US. Why does Israel need the United States' assistance to target Fordow? Fordow's underground nuclear facilities are understood to be 80 to 90 metres beneath the mountain's surface. It's impenetrable, even if Israel used the most advanced 'bunker buster' bombs in its arsenal for targeted aerial strikes. The 13,608-kilogram GBU-57A/B MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) is thought to be the only 'bunker buster' bomb that could reach the core buried below Fordow's surface, though that would still be likely to require multiple strikes. Loading Capable of burrowing through 60 metres of steel and rock before detonating, it was developed by the United States and is its largest non-nuclear bomb. Israel has requested it from the US, and the request has been denied multiple times. Only a B2 Stealth Bomber could carry the bomb due to its sheer size. How large is the United States' military presence in the Middle East? Iran has said it would target the United States' military bases in the Middle East should Trump enter the conflict on Israel's side in earnest. The United States has a significant military presence in the Middle East, with, per the Council on Foreign Relations, a broad network of sites spanning at least 19 locations, eight of which are permanent. Loading The permanent United States sites are understood to be in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Since October 7, 2023, several attacks purportedly by Iran-backed forces have occurred. Notably, in January 2024, three American soldiers were killed after a drone hit the Tower 22 military base in Jordan, near the Syrian border.
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Iran is running out of ammo, rocket launchers as it struggles to keep up with Israel: experts
Iran's retaliatory attacks against Israel have been significantly diminished over the past two days following Israeli assaults against their missile silos and launching sites, experts said. After firing more than 200 rockets in six waves of missile strikes against Israel on Friday and Saturday, Tehran only launched two waves of attacks the following day with only three dozen missiles each, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank tracking the fighting. Monday saw about 40 more missiles fired, with about half that on Tuesday — all while the Israeli military touted that it has successfully decimated Iran's ability to retaliate. Tehran initially planned to fire 1,000 ballistic missiles at Israel in response to Friday's preemptive strike, but the strong response never came to fruition because of the severe damage to Iran's ammunition, the ISW said. 'Iran has used significantly fewer munitions in its response to Israel than originally planned because the IDF destroyed and damaged missile launchers and silos that Iran planned to use to retaliate against Israel,' it wrote. Before the current conflict started, US and Israeli officials estimated that Iran's stockpile of missiles was at about 2,000, and not all of them were capable of reaching the Jewish state, according to the think tank. That number has likely plummeted following Israel's repeated attacks against Tehran's missile launching facilities, which carried on into Tuesday. The Israel Defense Forces estimates that some 40% of Iran's ballistic missile launches have been destroyed since Israel began bombing the Islamic Republic on Friday. The Israel Air Force said that more than 70 Iranian air defense missile batteries have also been wiped out, crippling Tehran's ability to keep its military facilities from being further destroyed. The Israeli military has said it will continue to 'hunt down' Iran's missile silos and launchers, with the IDF sharing video after video on X of rocket facilities destroyed in Iran. With Iran only firing small-scale attacks recently, Israel's Home Front Command issued an end to its pre-launch alerts, which gave citizens a wider window to seek shelter from Iran's ballistic missile attacks. Originally published as Iran is running out of ammo, rocket launchers as it struggles to keep up with Israel: experts
