Total Repression And Air Strikes Bring Unrelenting Dread For Iranians

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Fergal KeaneSpecial reporter


A lady bases on a roof listening to the sounds of the city listed below. There is only the dull hum of traffic tonight. But she understands how quickly that can change. It is typically the pet dogs who observe the sound first and start to bark intensely. The noise of aircraft. Then the threatening percussion of explosions. A ball of orange rising from an airstrike in a familiar area.


The BBC has actually acquired video and interviews from Tehran which evoke a city of strained nerves, of continuous awaiting the next blast and relentless worry of the state security apparatus.


Baran - not her genuine name - is a businesswoman in her thirties. She is now too afraid to go to work. "With the start of the drone attacks, no one attempts to go outside. If I open my door and step out, it resembles betting with my life."


She lives alone however remains in constant interaction with her pals. "My friends and I message each other constantly asking where everyone is ... and even when there is no noise the silence itself is scary. I am doing everything I can to survive and witness whatever lies ahead."


Thus many young Iranians, Baran saw her hopes of modification ravaged in recent months. Countless people were killed in a crackdown by regime forces in January after extensive presentations demanding change.


"I can not even remember how I utilized to live in the past without being reminded of the enjoyed one I lost during the demonstrations," she states. "I fear tomorrow. I fear the person I will be tomorrow. Today, I make it through somehow, however how will I survive tomorrow? That is the real question. Will I even live through tomorrow?"


Now repression is overall. Open dissent is difficult as the state's watchers are all over. Footage we acquired programs program fans driving through the city at night, flags flying from their cars and trucks - a message to any who might be lured to protest.


The official narrative is the just one allowed. State television broadcasts footage of demonstrations and funeral services. Interviews with pro-regime officials and use repeated denunciations of America and Israel. In government propaganda the Iranian people are extolled as prepared to suffer martyrdom.


Independent journalists still try to gather statement that uses a trustworthy alternative view, however they risk of arrest, abuse and perhaps worse. As one of them told me: "In wartime conditions you actually don't understand what they are capable of doing."