1) When I set out to write this report, even the title gave me pause. „Fleeing“—it wasn’t a word I wanted to use. But it’s the truth. I fled. We fled.
We escaped Tehran, running not because we had any connection to the Islamic Republic or to Israel, but simply to survive the bombs falling from the sky.
In those final moments before leaving, everything boiled down to one thing: getting out. All the rage, all the adrenaline I carried was channeled into preparing this report—and into planning our escape.
It felt like the most necessary thing in the world.
Maybe even enough.
But on our first night in a safe place, I realized it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stop thinking about what we had left behind in Tehran.
What enraged me most was watching the Islamic Republic’s official news broadcasts. They pretended everything was fine. They had no solutions—none. Their only concern, as always, was holding onto power.
As I’ve reported before, there are no official government shelters in Tehran—or anywhere in Iran, for that matter. When you read this, it will either be long after the bombings are over, or I will no longer be in Iran—or perhaps you will never read this at all.
The internet has been cut. Satellite signals are jammed. These were the only ways people in Tehran and across Iran could track the timing and type of incoming attacks.
Now, the Islamic Republic is using people as human shields. Regime loyalists hide among civilians. They go door to door, removing satellite dishes from rooftops. They search for satellite internet tools, trying to strangle every channel of connection, every whisper of news.
Meanwhile, not even the most basic help is being offered to war-stricken civilians. The government denies the very existence of this full-scale, catastrophic war. But people in Iran are completely defenseless—caught, abandoned, and under attack.
The Other Side;
Years ago, parallel to the national army, the Islamic Republic created its own military-economic force: the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)—known simply as Sepah in Persian.
Its mission was never the protection of people, but the protection of the regime. Today, Sepah holds overwhelming power across Iran's economy, its military structure, and nearly every major industry. Its reach is total. Its interest is singular: the survival of the regime.
2) This institution (the IRGC) has always been fundamentally committed to preserving the Islamic Republic and its ruling structure.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is one of the main forces responsible for suppressing and torturing Iranian protesters. Its members have used live ammunition against demonstrators in the streets and have operated secret torture sites where people are subjected to rape and murder.
Today, this very force is in charge of directing Iran’s war efforts against Israel.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has officially delegated a significant portion of his authority to the IRGC. Iran's national army is now entirely subordinate to the Guard’s command.
As a result, alongside the United States and Israel, the IRGC has become a force with life-and-death control over the Iranian people.
Some Iranians, utterly abandoned by both domestic and international institutions, turned to the internet before the recent blackout, pleading in Persian with Israeli authorities, "Terror Alarm," and far-right monarchists not to target residential areas inside Iran.
But who are these desperate voices?
Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, a large number of Iranians have been forced into exile. Their reasons for fleeing were varied: some held political beliefs that put them at risk, while others were simply musicians, bar owners, fashion retailers, or film sellers.
The Islamic Republic viewed monarchists, conservatives, leftists, anarchists, secularists, artists, dancers—and even Islamists with differing interpretations of the faith—as threats to its regime.
To avoid imprisonment, torture, or execution—and to maintain their right to work and live freely—many fled the country. These exiles formed large diaspora communities in Europe and North America.
Among them were also individuals and groups affiliated with the previous regime, namely the Pahlavis.
3) These individuals were among those who had transferred significant wealth out of Iran. By establishing satellite TV networks abroad, they began promoting their own ideologies.
Over time, some segments of the Iranian diaspora and expatriate communities received support from Western governments—particularly the United States. This support for anti–Islamic Republic TV networks became part of a broader project by the UK, the US, and later other Western powers to influence public opinion and cultural narratives.
This project continues to this day, serving their own political and strategic interests.
It reached a point where media outlets such as Voice of America (Persian), Israel in Persian, Manoto TV, and Iran International gained influence comparable to Iran’s state broadcaster and official Persian-language media.
Many Iranian opponents of the Islamic Republic, justifying their collaboration with these networks by saying “we need money and resources to fight the regime,” became part of this media ecosystem.
These networks collectively shaped what is now known in the Persian-speaking world as the mainstream media.
At the core of their political orientation are several shared beliefs: secularism and opposition to religious governance (especially Islamism), glorification of the former monarchy, idealization of ancient Persia and nationalism, support for Israel, and preparing the ground for the return to power of the son of the former Shah of Iran, titled Prince Reza Pahlavi.
Like many other opposition groups, their main method has been calling for mass public protests. However, they made no effort to consider the safety or well-being of citizens. For them, protesters were merely numbers—the more, the better.
4) The likelihood of the Islamic Republic collapsing would have been higher.
They absolutely did not take the costs of these protests seriously. In the end, there was no genuine support for the revolutionaries, protesters, or ordinary people from these media outlets or the mainstream opposition, even after they were harmed by the regime.
Today, and before the internet shutdown, some Iranians—feeling stripped of their political agency—begged these media platforms to limit the scope of the attacks, simply to survive.
In this context, the Israeli government also made a promise to the people of Iran: they pledged that civilians would not be targeted in the attacks.
5) “We do not target civilian sites. And if there is any plan to strike a densely populated area, we will issue an evacuation warning.”
This is what the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense claimed. However, in practice, targeting only military objectives becomes nearly impossible when the Islamic Republic uses civilians as human shields.
I try to share a report that I personally witnessed, which relates directly to this situation.
6) A middle-aged man, his eye dislodged from its socket, was brought to the hospital.
He had been working at a supermarket next to a Basij center (a base for IRGC forces and supporters of the Islamic Republic) when a fragment of a downed drone struck the back of his head.
The impact crushed part of his skull, and one of his eyes was forced out.
On the first night, reporters from IRGC-affiliated news agencies approached him. Despite his critical condition, they demanded that he give an interview condemning Israel. The man, in pain and terrified, refused—his only concern was receiving medical treatment. But the interrogator-journalists told him that unless he cooperated and spoke in support of the Islamic Republic, he would be denied care.
Ultimately, under coercion, he was forced to give the interview before receiving any treatment.
This report clearly illustrates that neither the Islamic Republic nor the Israeli regime can claim to act in the interests of the Iranian people.
The claim that civilians are not harmed is a blatant lie.
The way I fled, what I saw, and how I returned.
7) I was reporting from Tehran and writing for you. On the day Israel attacked the state television building, I was present on the nearby highway, just below the hills, to gather a report.
Overhead, there was an exchange of fire—it felt like a scene out of an apocalypse.
At that very moment, Israel issued an evacuation warning to the residents of Tehran. Everyone in District 3—where I was—and in District 18 was ordered to leave immediately.
But due to severe traffic, evacuation was practically impossible.
Additionally, Islamic Republic security forces were stationed everywhere, manning numerous checkpoints, which only slowed the process further.
I had to send out my report and immediately wipe the data from my phone. Because anyone found capturing images of the attacks or attempting to communicate the news abroad could be arrested on charges of espionage for Israel—charges that often carry the risk of execution.
But the internet was down. I couldn’t inform my comrades or colleagues abroad that I was safe—or even send out the report.
I postponed the transmission and instead, with great difficulty, managed to escape the area under attack.
Tehran was no longer safe.
With the emergency backpack I had already prepared, I decided to leave the city. After considerable effort, I drove westward, then toward northern Iran. The roads were nearly paralyzed by traffic and overcrowded vehicles.
It was hot. In the car, the only sound came from the Islamic Republic’s radio, playing threatening anthems in Arabic against Israel. After hours, we reached a roadside rest area and a gas station. I managed to get some water, and then waited again for hours in the fuel queue, hoping for my share of the rationed gasoline.
Around 1 a.m., I looked around. The internet was still down. War-weary travelers were scattered all around. Some played volleyball in the slightly cooler night air; others sat on the ground, eating whatever they had. Children played nearby.
I wasn't in a refugee camp—but it felt like one.
And I could already sense that this sight—of displaced people in search of survival—would become a recurring image in the days to come.
We had all acquired a new identity now:
We were war refugees.
8) Along the way, bottled water was strictly rationed, and we had to stand in long lines just to use a restroom.
Official reports stated that within just a few days, nearly six million people had entered Mazandaran and four million into Gilan—two northern provinces considered relatively safe.
We were traveling alongside a large portion of that displaced population. The northern cities had become overwhelmingly crowded, and in some places, basic food supplies were running low.
It became painfully clear to me that the burden of our survival was falling heavily on the shoulders of the local communities in the north.
This, understandably, could lead to tensions and even conflict. Although grassroots support and self-organized aid efforts were underway, none of it was sufficient to accommodate the forced migration of ten million people.
9) The next morning, we reached one of the so-called "safe zones." Internet access had improved slightly, so I sent out a report. Soon after, I received several messages from comrades.
They had been arrested—accused of spying for Israel.
We have never supported Zionist ideology. We have openly and repeatedly stated this. So what was the reason for these arrests?
One of the detainees was an asylum seeker in Iran who had fled the Taliban and happened to carry a few non-Islamic books. Another was a former university classmate of mine.
We were once arrested together during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. In the eyes of the Islamic Republic, anyone who dares to remain, resist, and hold a position different from the state’s is automatically labeled a spy. Anyone who speaks out or protests is accused of working for Israel.
The regime is exploiting the state of war to intensify its crackdown on dissent. They have silenced our voices so they can impose their own narrative on the world.
Every morning in Iran’s prisons, at least two political prisoners are executed. The Islamic Republic has declared that nearly 80 “spies” have been arrested in each province—an absurd and clearly fabricated number.
Most of these so-called spies are simply political and social activists, civilians—people like me, like us.
For sending out these reports and maintaining these lines of communication, I might be killed—not by Israel, but by the Islamic Republic.
10) Yesterday, one of my friends was abducted, and there has been no news of him since.
He was not a Zionist—his only "crime" was holding beliefs different from those of the Islamic Republic. He was known as a child rights activist and, in fact, used to write and organize events about the rights of children in Gaza.
The Islamic Republic, along with Khamenei—who have recently taken to calling themselves Iran—arrest, torture, and ultimately kill their critics under the guise of "defending Iran." But in truth, it is nothing more than a defense of their own survival and continued repression.
My people are being threatened and killed by the Islamic Republic on the ground, while from the sky, Israel bombs their homes.
Meanwhile, in Europe and America, some critics of Western policies defend the Islamic Republic under the banner of “peace” and “anti-war” activism. But condemning the crimes of Israel or the imperialism of the United States does not require defending or justifying the Islamic Republic and its narrative.
Just as no one needed to whitewash the Nazis or the Soviet regime in order to condemn the warmongering of World War II, no one needs to defend a criminal regime today to oppose another.
Perhaps the only real help we can offer those imprisoned in this geography is to fully and truthfully reflect the entire story of what is happening in Iran.
11) In Iran, internet access has been cut off entirely.
Aside from a few IRGC (Revolutionary Guard) bases and a handful of privileged citizens, no one has any connection to the outside world.
Phone lines have also been blocked for international calls to Iran, rendering communication for the general public nearly impossible.
Around cities and neighborhoods, numerous checkpoints have been established—allegedly to confront the Israeli military.
In reality, however, these checkpoints have been used primarily to harass, search, and arrest ordinary Iranian citizens rather than deal with any foreign threat.
12) The United States had issued a warning and evacuation order for Tehran.
Every night, air defenses activate in the city, and the sound of explosions echoes across the capital.
I made the decision to return to Tehran—a city that has become eerily depopulated.
As I wrote at the beginning of this series of reports: I despise the idea of fleeing. More than that, I hate the feeling of helplessness.
I imagine that we are all trapped in a massive prison, and I feel a responsibility to do more than just run away or play the victim.
All communication networks of the anarchist movement inside Iran have been cut off or severely disrupted.
We are in grave danger. Still, it was important for me to return to Tehran to assess the situation firsthand and, if possible, re-establish communication with the outside world—to reconnect with comrades in other regions, and if necessary, to fight alongside them.
And so, I came back.
The city I left behind was far more crowded than the militarized, ghost-like Tehran I returned to. The banks are open only until 11 a.m., and large stores operate no later than midday.
Food in many stores has either spoiled or become scarce. Feminine hygiene products and canned goods are now rationed.
But what stands out the most are the checkpoints scattered throughout the city. A few days before I left Tehran, those checkpoints were manned by Iranians aligned with the regime—mostly the Basij militia.
Upon returning, however, I encountered a different scene: many of the current guards are non-Iranian proxy forces of the Islamic Republic, likely Iraqi Arab Shia Islamists and other militant groups.
They have replaced the Basij at these posts.
Thus, it’s not just Israel or the U.S. that has invaded my city and home—it’s also Islamist paramilitary groups that have poured in from the region and deployed in Tehran.
These people are clearly here to support and protect the continuation of the Islamic Republic—a criminal regime.
They seem to have forgotten that this land has owners and residents of its own. And now, it seems they are preparing to turn Iran into yet another battleground for their wars.
13) I am currently in Tehran, and the attacks are ongoing.
Several comrades have been arrested — likely in the same sweeping mass arrests as others — and we fear that, like many detainees, we will be accused of espionage.
Even though we stand firmly against all governments and all wars — including the Israeli state, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and all of their wars — we know how the state machinery works.
They call people "spies" and charge them with espionage for Israel simply because they oppose the regime. But we are not agents of any state. In fact, we believe all governments are absolute evil, and we stand in opposition to every state on Earth.
They accuse us of collaborating with one government, when in reality, we oppose all of them — we see them all as criminal entities.
Right now, the internet is cut off. Our situation is extremely dangerous. This might be the last time I can reach you. By the next time, I might be in prison — or even executed.
Despite this, I will continue reporting from the ground.
One of my comrades was recently abducted by security forces and charged with espionage for Israel — even though he is openly anti-war, anti-Israel, and anti-state.
He may now be facing execution.