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Eyewitness account from family and friends on what goes on in life of ordinary Iranian during these times
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Talked to my brother last night, begged him to go to the North (Mazandaran and Gilan province) where my parents are now. He said no.
Today, when he was in his office in Sohrevardi in central north of Tehran, 4 locations were hit, some 100s of meters away.
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He decided to go to his home (in Gholhak, ~5km), get his stuff and hit the road. It took him 4.5 hours to get home - it would take 30 minutes usually. Once home, he realised no running water since the main pipe was taken out in an attack in Tajrish today.
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So he actually stayed tonight in Tehran, similar to all my cousins who were planning to leave Tehran today. The road from Tehran to the North is completely packed.
They are planning to leave tomorrow.
But how can you leave?
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You need petrol. But you are lucky if you have 30 litres of petrol in your car after queueing for 4 hours.
My father-in-law queued for 3 hours and was lucky to get petrol today (they give 25 litres max) and traveled to Isfahan from Tehran.
This is now, in a couple of days?
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I warned my parents that the banking system could be hit with a cyber attack and they need to get some cash. So he went to a bank where he had a friend and he managed to get some cash. How much cash?
He got 5M tomans, equivalent to $50. And only because of his friend.
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The food situation is worse. Out of 3 supermarkets near my brother's house, 2 were closed since they had little left to sell. Shops are empty.
My parents in the north said the same - I have urged them to buy what they can get. Because...
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The whole logistics network in Iran has imploded. Soon there will be no fuel, and on the back of Truck Drivers strike, the reserves were thin anyway.
I might be exaggerating but I can hardly imagine how the whole country could not collapse within a week.
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Is this what Israelis trying to do?
I don't know. But we have a powerless nation and a brutal regime and unfortunately Iranians are only witnessing the destruction of their lives, whether slowly under the regime, or fast under Israeli attacks.
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The mood is varied, is a mixture of shock, jubilation, horror and fear. We are fearful for our relatives. Things will be much worse in a week.
But as a nation, we have no choice but to be hopeful.
So far there has been zero sirens sounded for civilians. Zero instructions on what to do, other than not take picture. There is not a single shelter.
Some has resorted to sleep in metro stations. And there is no toilet or facility.
PS2: I was just told that some friends who had tried to leave Tehran for the North had to turn back after hours in traffic jam, especially in fear of running out of petrol.
Desparation and chaos gradually weighing in after euphoria of elimination of top IRGC commanders fading...
Update: scattered reports of shortage of bread especially around Tehran and Karaj.
Again, on the back of recent protests and strike of bakers, discontentment is high.
Islamic Republic thinking it could always manage with force and oppression, in desperate need of a unity spirit
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Update: my brother and all cousins are still stuck in Tehran. All routes outbound are locked in a terrible jam.
My brother also says logistics companies are "out of fuel and short of personnel" predicting hard times in northern provinces soon running out of all supplies.
Update: some family members report they could find what they needed in the shops with no problem in their area . They even ordered from Digikala (equivalent to Amazon) and it had stuff in stock - let's get it delivered.
More updates on scarcity: even Digikala is out of rice (and oil), generally big supermarkets are closed or have run out of some if not most items. Smaller shops more likely to have items.
Queues in petrol stations and bakeries everywhere.
It then, however, turned out to be the work of Islamic Republic's own intelligence ministry. They finally accepted that an "autonomous cell" within the ministry led by Saied Emami had gone rogue and planned and executed the attack.
With that in the back of Iranian minds, terrorist attack on Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz was immediately dismissed as the work of the Islamic Republic itself, especially considering the timing (protests).
But it is undeniable that ISIS has claimed responsibility and released π
Today, dozens of cities around the world will witness human chains of Iranians extending for miles.
This has been planned for London too, sadly I do not feel well enough to go.
After weeks and weeks of reactive handling of the protests in the hope of them fizzling out, today the regime is planning to use today's burial procession of Shiraz terrorist attack victims to take the initiative back again.
IRGC Commander again declared the end of protests.
As you can see from the images above, even for a neutral event where everyone would condemn such cowardly terrorist attack (and I do too), the regime failed to bring masses to the street.
Believe me I chose busiest pics, check them for yourself.
#BREAKING The country is in turmoil and it feels like the regime is losing the grip - which is not necessarily good news since this might mean we enter a military phase.
People are reported to be in control of Town of Mahabad in Kurdistan
Funny thing is that taghvim.com website used commonly by Iranians says today is 30th of Rabi al-Awwal. All other calendars say today is 1st of Rabi-ali-Thaani.
It cannot be ISIS!
My Arab followers, can you please tell me what day it is according to Hijri calendar?
Some calendars I found say 28th, some 29th, some 1st ...
#IranProtests2022 5th week of incessant protests (29th day) starting today with reports of ongoing protests in Karaj, Rashst, Hamedan and Shahinshahr.
It is 1:30 PM local time.
This is students today in Sanandaj.
In Ardabil where a high school student was allegedly beaten to death (we have not yet been able to confirm or disprove) protesters have clashed with the security forces.