Tehran’s security situation in the era of the fifth day of the Iran-Israel nuclear strike war: A woman’s desperate plea for help
There was panic and confusion in Iran’s capital city of Tehran as Israel warned hundreds of thousands of civilians to evacuate ahead of more potential strikes as the broadening conflict between the two countries spilled into its fifth day.
Iran launched more than 300 missiles and hundreds of drones towards Israel, and the attacks have sent civilians throughout Israel and the West Bank scrambling for cover. Israel’s military says many of the projectiles were intercepted, but several have hit, causing damage to residential buildings, killing at least 24 civilians and wounding hundreds more, according to Israel’s prime minister’s office.
Zahra, an unemployed fashion designer in Tehran, told NPR she was trying to get out of the city to head to her hometown in western Iran but all the roads were blocked. She asked that only her first name be used so that she would not be seen as making a mockery of the government.
“We don’t know what we should do. What decisions can we or should we make? We don’t have internet. We cannot even hear the news,” she said in a series of voice notes that she says took her more than 18 hours to send due to the lack of signal.
She said that each person is looking at how they can save their own life or that of their loved ones. Everyone is thinking about how to avoid the missiles.
Tehran, the “Supreme Leader’s Corner” and the Security of Nuclear Processes: Israel vs. the United States
He made a suggestion that the US knew the location of Iran’s supreme leader. We know where the ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is safe, and we are not going to take him out, at least not for now.
Israel says its air strikes, which began last Friday, have established dominance of the skies over Tehran and western Iran, where the main nuclear facilities are located. Israel and the IAEA assess that its attacks have severely damaged other sites, such as Natanz, but Fordow is the hardest to destroy.
Those strikes have also killed more than 200 civilians, including at least 20 children, according to the Iranian government. Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Dena, a 48-year-old resident of Tehran – who also asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of government reprisal – says the government has given civilians no information on how to protect themselves.
“They don’t give us any practical tips. Which locations we should avoid and which ones are safe to visit is unknown. She says that they don’t talk about it. They are celebrating the shooting of missiles at Israel.
Israel and Iran have traded direct fire several times – most recently in October of last year – since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023 sparked the current war in Gaza. But this new round has lasted longer and been more destructive and deadly for both sides.
The president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute told All Things Considered that everything they’re watching is beyond expectations. He said that Israel has taken out its missile capabilities quicker than thought, because it gained control of Iran’s airspace.
Stein said if they don’t get certain nuclear facilities, Iran has the ability to quickly build a nuclear weapon and he would think it was a failure on the Israeli side.
The US military has 30,000 pounds of bombs that could penetrate the defenses of Iran’s Fordow nuke site, which is build into the side of a mountain.
Experts say the facilities can be used to enrich the material into a purity that can be used in a nuke or atomic weapon.
Speaking to the BBC on Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director, General Rafael Grossi, said it was likely that all of the 15,000 centrifuges at Natanz, Iran’s largest such facility, had been severely damaged by Israeli airstrikes. He said there was “very limited, if any, damage” visible at the underground Fordo enrichment plant.
Daniel Shapiro, a non-partisan think thank at the Atlantic Council, is a former United States ambassador to Israel. Only the U.S. has the kind of combat expertise that can destroy that facility. I don’t think Israel has many surprises left.
“I don’t think regime change is the objective of this Israeli campaign,” says Shapiro, who served as ambassador to Israel during the Obama presidency. I think that it’s pointless to try and do it with this kind of military campaign.
Miller said that Israel is likely relying on a “mowing grass” strategy, with the expectation of striking again later in an iterative process of setting back Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump had earlier demanded an “unconditional surrender” from Iran, which he said meant: “I’ve had it. Okay, I’ve had it. I give up. No more. Then we go blow up all the, you know, all the nuclear stuff that’s all over the place there.”
Trump’s Defense of the Nuclear Program: Why Israel Doesn’t Have the B-2 Bombs, nor Does It Really Need the U.S.
Israel doesn’t have the large quantities of 30,000 pound bombs or the B-2 stealth bomber needed to deliver them because they are supplied by the U.S.
Whether or not Washington will do that is still a question. Trump was asked at the summit what it would take for the US to become involved in military affairs, but he wouldn’t talk about it.
“A unilateral Israeli strike… would set back the program by a few weeks to a few months. A U.S. attack would set it back by one or two years,” says Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project.
If the U.S. does not intervene then the door to diplomacy will be shut completely. Iran would probably be in a defensive stance as it tried to reconstitute its nuclear program.
The U.S. had been in the midst of talks with Iran over its nuclear program when Israel launched the surprise attack late last week. The United States and Iran were to continue negotiations last weekend, but they have since stopped.
Israel’s president told NPR his country would welcome international support in the war to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program as Israel was on the verge of building atomic weapons.
The president spoke toNPR from his official residence in Jerusalem, as he contemplated authorizing B-2 bombs to destroy Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear sites, which Israel does not possess.
“There’s a bigger picture here that the world and the American people should understand,” he said, speaking just hours before Iran fired another missile barrage at Israel, which it has done repeatedly since Israel began attacking Iran last Friday.
We need to stop the empire of evil, and get rid of the nukes. Start behaving in a decent way and not be a rogue state. You are all around the world. “It’s impossible,” he said.
A U.S.-Iran War on the Middle East and the CP-Violation in the Ghor-Egypt Conflict
Iran has insisted it is only enriching for civilian purposes, despite experts saying it has reached the point where it could break out and produce several warheads.
A person familiar with the matter told NPR on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject that Israeli officials aren’t asking the U.S. to join the war but that they would be happy for the US to actively participate, and believe the U.S. will in fact step in militarily.
He said the war could weaken Iran’s regime so much that it may even fall, a collapse he said could change the face of the region, and lead to an end to the war in Gaza.
However, some regional security analysts warn that a U.S intervention could widen the conflict and provoke Iranian strikes on U.S. military bases in the Gulf, as well as oil infrastructure in the Gulf, which could send shockwaves through world markets.
