Total Repression And Air Strikes Bring Unrelenting Dread For Iranians

Fergal KeaneSpecial correspondent


A lady stands on a roof listening to the sounds of the city below. There is only the dull hum of traffic tonight. But she knows how easily that can alter. It is typically the dogs who notice the noise first and begin to bark intensely. The sound of airplane. Then the ominous percussion of explosions. A ball of orange rising from an airstrike in a familiar neighbourhood.


The BBC has acquired footage and from Tehran which stimulate a city of strained nerves, of continuous waiting for the next blast and relentless fear of the state security apparatus.


Baran - not her real name - is a businesswoman in her thirties. She is now too frightened to go to work. "With the start of the drone attacks, nobody dares to go outside. If I open my door and march, it is like gambling with my life."


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


Like so many young Iranians, Baran saw her hopes of change ravaged in current months. Countless people were eliminated in a crackdown by program forces in January after prevalent presentations requiring change.


"I can not even remember how I utilized to live in the past without being reminded of the enjoyed one I lost throughout the demonstrations," she states. "I fear tomorrow. I fear the person I will be tomorrow. Today, I endure somehow, however how will I survive tomorrow? That is the genuine concern. Will I even endure tomorrow?"


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


The official narrative is the only one permitted. State television broadcasts video footage of demonstrations and funeral services. Interviews with pro-regime authorities and protestors provide duplicated denunciations of America and Israel. In federal government propaganda the Iranian people are proclaimed as ready to suffer martyrdom.


Independent journalists still try to gather testimony that offers a trustworthy alternative view, however they run the threat of arrest, torture and possibly worse. As one of them told me: "In wartime conditions you really don't know what they can doing."