Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Zahra Arghavan and Mehdi Alishir standing on their balcony watching and waiting for the sun to set in Tehran sound of air strikes.
As US President Donald Trump’s time passes latest ultimatumHis thoughts were clouded with new fears: How long would the power be out if the plants were bombed? How will they leave the city if the bridges are removed?
Five weeks later, they have become accustomed to the roar of American and Israeli warplanes, the sound of explosions and sleepless nights. Like many, They left the capital and returned In search of illusive security. Married for over a decade, they made it through the COVID pandemic and the 12-day war last June.
They have used clear packing tape to line the edges of their windows as a precaution against explosions. Mirrors and fragile objects have been removed or secured. A packed bag holds documents, medications and essentials, ready in case they need to leave quickly.
In an expletive-laden threat over the weekend, Trump vowed that “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day,” and that Iran’s leaders would be “living in hell” if they didn’t open up. strait of hormuz.
“To be honest, the situation is really unclear,” Arghavan said. “We don’t really understand how long power outages will last, or what life will be like without power.”
Alishir said he and his wife could handle living without electricity – and possibly running water – for at most a week. “If this continues for a long time, we will definitely run into problems,” he said.
Their struggle began even before the first American and Israeli bombs fell on Iran on February 28.
The Iranian government’s crackdown on nationwide protests in January severely limited Internet access. Internet monitoring organization NetBlocks says it is the longest nationwide shutdown ever recorded.
Arghavan runs a small language school that teaches French to Iranians who want to live in the Canadian province of Quebec.
“We were basically an online school, and our students had classes with kids abroad,” he said. “About 50% of our learners were out of the country. But now, with all these internet outages, it’s really disrupting our work.”
Iranians are divided over the war: some attend daily pro-government rallies; Others quietly applaud the attacks against their leaders while condemning civilian deaths and damage to infrastructure.
The couple blame Israel and the US for starting the war and hope for a diplomatic solution.
“I’m really hopeful that an agreement will be reached soon and whatever happens will help people, because right now people are paying a heavy price,” Arghavan said.
