Fear stalks Tehran as Israel bombards, shelters fill up and communicating grows harder

Mostly Iranian citizens board a bus traveling to Van, a city in eastern Turkiye near the border with Iran, at the Esenler bus terminal in Istanbul, on Jun. 18, 2025. (AFP)
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  • Thousands have fled, spending hours in gridlock as they head toward the suburbs, the Caspian Sea, or even Armenia or T眉rkiye
  • Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 585 people and wounded over 1,300, a human rights group says

NEW YORK: The streets of Tehran are empty, businesses closed, communications patchy at best. With no bona fide bomb shelters open to the public, panicked masses spend restless nights on the floors of metro stations as strikes boom overhead.

This is Iran鈥檚 capital city, just under a week into a fierce Israeli blitz to destroy the country鈥檚 nuclear program and its military capabilities. After knocking out much of Iran鈥檚 air defense system, Israel says its warplanes have free rein over the city鈥檚 skies. US President Donald Trump on Monday told Tehran鈥檚 roughly 10 million residents to evacuate 鈥渋mmediately.鈥�

Thousands have fled, spending hours in gridlock as they head toward the suburbs, the Caspian Sea, or even Armenia or T眉rkiye. But others 鈥� those elderly and infirm 鈥� are stuck in high-rise apartment buildings. Their relatives fret: what to do?

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 585 people and wounded over 1,300, a human rights group says. Local media, themselves targets of bombardment, have stopped reporting on the attacks, leaving Iranians in the dark. There are few visible signs of state authority: Police appear largely undercover, air raid sirens are unreliable, and there鈥檚 scant information on what to do in case of attack.

Shirin, 49, who lives in the southern part of Tehran, said every call or text to friends and family in recent days has felt like it could be the last.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 know if tomorrow we will be alive,鈥� she said.

Many Iranians feel conflicted. Some support Israel鈥檚 targeting of Iranian political and military officials they see as repressive. Others staunchly defend the Islamic Republic and retaliatory strikes on Israel. Then, there are those who oppose Iran鈥檚 rulers 鈥� but still don鈥檛 want to see their country bombed.

To stay, or to go?

The Associated Press interviewed five people in Iran and one Iranian American in the US over the phone. All spoke either on the condition of anonymity or only allowed their first names to be used, for fear of retribution from the state against them or their families.

Most of the calls ended abruptly and within minutes, cutting off conversations as people grew nervous 鈥� or because the connection dropped. Iran鈥檚 government has acknowledged disrupting Internet access. It says it鈥檚 to protect the country, though that has blocked average Iranians from getting information from the outside world.

Iranians in the diaspora wait anxiously for news from relatives. One, an Iranian American human rights researcher in the US, said he last heard from relatives when some were trying to flee Tehran earlier in the week. He believes that lack of gas and traffic prevented them from leaving.

The most heartbreaking interaction, he said, was when his older cousins 鈥� with whom he grew up in Iran 鈥� told him 鈥渨e don鈥檛 know where to go. If we die, we die.鈥�

鈥淭heir sense was just despair,鈥� he said.

Some families have made the decision to split up.

A 23-year-old Afghan refugee who has lived in Iran for four years said he stayed behind in Tehran but sent his wife and newborn son out of the city after a strike Monday hit a nearby pharmacy.

鈥淚t was a very bad shock for them,鈥� he said.

Some, like Shirin, said fleeing was not an option. The apartment buildings in Tehran are towering and dense. Her father has Alzheimer鈥檚 and needs an ambulance to move. Her mother鈥檚 severe arthritis would make even a short trip extremely painful.

Still, hoping escape might be possible, she spent the last several days trying to gather their medications. Her brother waited at a gas station until 3 a.m., only to be turned away when the fuel ran out. As of Monday, gas was being rationed to under 20 liters (5 gallons) per driver at stations across Iran after an Israeli strike set fire to the world鈥檚 largest gas field.

Some people, like Arshia, said they are just tired.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to go in traffic for 40 hours, 30 hours, 20 hours, just to get to somewhere that might get bombed eventually,鈥� he said.

The 22-year-old has been staying in the house with his parents since the initial Israeli strike. He said his once-lively neighborhood of Saadat Abad in northwestern Tehran is now a ghost town. Schools are closed. Very few people even step outside to walk their dogs. Most local stores have run out of drinking water and cooking oil. Others closed.

Still, Arshia said the prospect of finding a new place is too daunting.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the resources to leave at the moment,鈥� he said.

Residents are on their own
No air raid sirens went off as Israeli strikes began pounding Tehran before dawn Friday. For many, it was an early sign civilians would have to go it alone.

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Tehran was a low-slung city, many homes had basements to shelter in, and there were air raid drills and sirens. Now the capital is packed with close-built high-rise apartments without shelters.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a kind of failing of the past that they didn鈥檛 build shelters,鈥� said a 29-year-old Tehran resident who left the city Monday. 鈥淓ven though we鈥檝e been under the shadow of a war, as long as I can remember.鈥�

Her friend鈥檚 boyfriend was killed while going to the store.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 really expect your boyfriend 鈥� or your anyone, really 鈥� to leave the house and never return when they just went out for a routine normal shopping trip,鈥� she said.

Those who choose to relocate do so without help from the government. The state has said it is opening mosques, schools and metro stations for use as shelters. Some are closed, others overcrowded.

Hundreds crammed into one Tehran metro station Friday night. Small family groups lay on the floor. One student, a refugee from another country, said she spent 12 hours in the station with her relatives.

鈥淓veryone there was panicking because of the situation,鈥� she said. 鈥淓veryone doesn鈥檛 know what will happen next, if there is war in the future and what they should do. People think nowhere is safe for them.鈥�

Soon after leaving the station, she saw that Israel had warned a swath of Tehran to evacuate.

鈥淔or immigrant communities, this is so hard to live in this kind of situation,鈥� she said, explaining she feels like she has nowhere to escape to 鈥� especially not her home country, which she asked not be identified.

Fear of Iran mingles with fear of Israel

For Shirin, the hostilities are bittersweet. Despite being against the theocracy and its treatment of women, the idea that Israel may determine the future does not sit well with her.

鈥淎s much as we want the end of this regime, we didn鈥檛 want it to come at the hands of a foreign government,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e would have preferred that if there were to be a change, it would be the result of a people鈥檚 movement in Iran.鈥�

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old who left Tehran had an even more basic message for those outside Iran:

鈥淚 just want people to remember that whatever is happening here, it鈥檚 not routine business for us. People鈥檚 lives here 鈥� people鈥檚 livelihoods 鈥� feel as important to them as they feel to anyone in any other place. How would you feel if your city or your country was under bombardment by another country, and people were dying left and right?鈥�

鈥淲e are kind of like, this can鈥檛 be happening. This can鈥檛 be my life.鈥�