1/ Eyewitness accounts from Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, and cities along the way. What they describe is not protest but war-like conditions across multiple neighborhoods.
2/ Tehran and Mashhad are described as active battlefields. Firearms, military weapons, and sustained clashes are reported. Shiraz shows similar intensity, with neighborhood-by-neighborhood variations.
3/ Across cities, forces chase people to the doors of their homes. Neighbors open doors to shelter one another, then shut them. This is widespread and intentional civilian protection.
4/ Regime tactics include drones used to identify gatherings, followed by rapid deployment of forces. Smaller or isolated groups are targeted more aggressively.
5/ In Shiraz, northern and northeastern neighborhoods (Sa‘di, Haftan, Kolbeh) are poorer—and clashes there are especially intense.
6/ In poorer areas of Shiraz, people fight back with bladed weapons (knives, machetes)
7/ Civilian casualties remain higher due to heavy gunfire, but regime forces are not untouched.
8/ Certain poorer neighborhoods in Shiraz [Sa‘di / Darvazeh-ye Qassabkhaneh / Shisheh-Gari] are effectively no-go zones for regime. Forces do not enter easily due to dense resistance and local coordination.
9/ In Tehran civilians generally do not carry weapons. Resistance relies on numbers, movement, and sheltering—not arms.
10/ In some smaller cities, clashes are more militarized. In a town half hr from Shiraz civilians reportedly possess hunting weapons—and in rare cases, military rifles—changing the nature of confrontations.
11/ Satellite TV (Iran International, VOA) is often the only external connection: "The videos that reach you are extremely limited and few. A handful of people who have Starlink can sometimes send videos, and those are mostly in central and northern Tehran," more affluent areas.
12/ "Overall, filming gatherings is not easy at all. Many people are extremely guarded and tell you not to film, because they suspect you might be plainclothes security or something like that."
13/ "I called one of my friends [in Karaj, near Tehran] and they say the situation is literally war-like and horrific. Apparently a lot of people have been killed."
14/ "Fooladshahr [Isfahan] was already very violent and serious from the very first days, let alone after the [Reza Pahlavi] call to action. They didn’t leave anything intact: shantytowns, the municipality, the courthouse, and things like that. They burned everything."
15/ In Fooladshahr alone, at least four officers were reportedly killed early on. Civilian casualties are believed to be much higher.
16/ The killings are monetized. Victims are shot, and their families are later extorted for the price of the bullet in exchange for the body.
17/ 90% of the time batons and tear gas are not enough to deal with the crowds. When people want to push back, they do. Only military grade weapons work for regime forces.
18/ "This uprising is not comparable to 2022. Scale, intensity, and duration are fundamentally different."
19/ Messages from Tehran describe exhaustion and fear alongside laughter, nervous energy, and hope—“bright hope behind their exhausted breathing.”
20/ Shops and pharmacies coordinate openings on alternating days so food and medicine remain available. Communities self-organize to survive shutdowns.
21/ Shiraz [unverified]: Reports claim Shiite shrines damaged or burned. Eyewitness said will send photos when possible to do so. These shrines were state-designated after the revolution, often created through “religious dream claims.” Shrine expansion accelerated after 1979.
22/ Sources inside Iran are asking foreign governments for assistance. "There is no other way."
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