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Live Updates: United Nations Urges Restraint After U.S. Strikes on Iran
The Israel-Iran war that broke out over the past week has already upended life for Iran's 90 million people, killing more than 400 and injuring more than 3,000, according to the country's Health Ministry. Countless others have fled to safety in the countryside or neighboring states.
Now, after a direct American attack on three of Iran's nuclear facilities, many Iranians said in phone interviews that they faced an uncertain and frightening future.
'We're all in shock — none of us expected that, within six or seven days, we'd reach this point,' said Peyman, a 44-year-old business executive who asked that his last name not be used because of concern over reprisals from the authorities.
After Israel launched its military assault last week, a missile hit nearby on his commute to work, and he decided to escape Tehran. Now his immediate family, parents, in-laws and brother's family are all sheltering in one house in northern Iran. His primary concern is for his 9-year-old daughter.
'I grew up in war, so the sound of bombardment doesn't scare me, but I left because of my daughter,' he said. 'I fear soon we're going to have a shortage of water and food.'
Iranians awoke to the news of the American attack on Sunday feeling a combination of sorrow and anger.
'I really hope there's a cease-fire, because this is not OK,' said Dr. Parsa Mehdipour, 29, a general practitioner in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who flew home to Tehran for a visit in late May and has been trapped there since the war began and flights into and out of Iran were suspended.
Dr. Mehdipour said he had no idea how he would get back to Dubai. His options include traveling by road and then taking a ship across the Persian Gulf or crossing into a neighboring country where he can catch a flight.
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Vehicles lined up for gas after Israeli airstrikes in Tehran last week.
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Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
'These tensions will cause a lot of problems for civilians,' he said. 'This is honestly a breach of international law,' he said, adding that attacking nuclear facilities 'could have catastrophic consequences for the people.'
One 44-year-old mother of two, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her family from reprisals, described how she and her children left everything behind after Israel began its military campaign and the Iranian authorities ordered her neighborhood in Tehran to evacuate. They packed a few small bags, locked the door and left, traveling on a pothole-filled road to the border and crossing into Armenia, where they have been staying in hotels.
By day, her sons live a normal life. But as night falls their crying and nightmares begin, and they awake at the slightest sound, she said. When she mentioned that they were on a vacation, her 7-year-old son corrected her, saying he knew they had escaped from a war.
The woman said that leaving Iran was the worst feeling, but that she had lived through the Iran-Iraq war and did not want her children to experience the same trauma. She does not care about the nuclear sites, she said, but feels sad for regular Iranians who are stuck between two fronts: their own government and the countries attacking them.
Since the Israeli attacks, which appeared to have involved intelligence breaches deep inside Iran's government, Iranian news media have reported that officials have cracked down on people they accuse of being 'collaborators' of Israel.
The Iranian authorities arrested 53 people who they said were linked to Israel and charged them with disturbing public opinion, possessing and operating drones, filming sensitive locations and sending that footage to 'hostile media outlets,' Fars, an Iranian news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported on Sunday.
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The U.S. involvement may kick off a more dangerous phase in the war.
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Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
The Iranian authorities also arrested a European citizen accused of espionage in the western province of Kermanshah, the Tasnim news agency, which is closely affiliated with the government, reported on Sunday. The report did not say what country the person was from.
The New York Times was not able to independently verify the Iranian news media reports.
Peyman, the executive, said that he was no fan of President Trump or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel — 'not at all' — but that he nonetheless found himself blaming his own government for the war and its heavy toll.
'The feeling I have is a feeling of 40 years of hatred toward this foolish government,' he said, lamenting the money that had been spent to develop Fordo, a uranium enrichment site that the United States targeted. 'All these years of slogans and chest beating, saying we have a strong defense system and that no enemy could ever attack our soil.
'That's not even counting how much the value of our currency has dropped, how much of our human capital has fled the country, how much chaos has been created,' he added. 'The psychological, financial and cultural toll on the country is immense.'
Saeed, who asked that his last name not be used because of concern over reprisals from the authorities, said in text messages from Tehran he had feared the United States entering the war, believing it would prolong the conflict and expand its scope.
'Even the staunchest opponents of the Islamic Republic have been humiliated so much that they wish we would attack American bases, even though they know harder days will follow,' he said.
He added: 'And in the middle of all this, it's us, the people, who suffer.'
Sanam Mahoozi contributed reporting.
