Fear has been gripping Iranians as Israel vows to continue attacking the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, with many fleeing the bigger cities, including the capital Tehran, in search of safer areas. <\/p>\n
There was chaos as residents ran down to the ground level after smelling smoke from a nearby building that had also been targeted, the resident said. Families with young children struggled to keep them calm. <\/p>\n
Unlike Israel, Iran\u2019s capital Tehran doesn\u2019t have modern bomb shelters, so the city must make use of tunnels, basements or older shelters used in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s \u2013 the last time <\/strong>the country faced such a grave national emergency. <\/p>\n \u201cIn Tehran there weren\u2019t any shelters, people went into basements,\u201d the chairman of Tehran\u2019s City Council, Mehdi Chamran, told reporters Sunday, adding that the metro can be used as a shelter \u201cin extreme crisis\u201d but that \u201cwe would need to shut the system down.\u201d <\/p>\n The metro in Tehran will be open 24 hours a day starting Sunday night for people to shelter, a government spokesperson announced. Schools and mosques will also be open, she said. <\/p>\n Older people in the building in Saadat Abad were comparing the fear-filled atmosphere to the eight-year-long war with Iraq, which saw Iraqi armed forces invading western Iran along the countries\u2019 joint border, the resident said. <\/p>\n Iranian experts have said that by attacking residential areas in Iran, Israel has \u201ccrossed the Rubicon\u201d \u2013 or passed the point of no return \u2013 and is inviting attacks of the same kind from Tehran. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t support the Iranian regime, but we are against Israel attacking residential areas and civilians,\u201d said an older male Tehran resident. \u201cIf Israel is against Iran\u2019s nuclear program and military capabilities, they should target those areas and not create another situation like what is happening in Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n Israel has destroyed swathes of the Palestinian territory and displaced almost all of Gaza\u2019s population in its war against Hamas, an Iranian ally. <\/p>\n One family, who didn\u2019t want to be named, decided to leave Tehran with their two small children and their elderly parents. They are worried that the government has housed officials and military leaders within highly populated, upper middle-class neighborhoods \u2013 putting civilians at risk. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to leave my home, but I am not going to put my young children in this position,\u201d the father said. \u201cI hope that the US steps in to stop the attacks between both countries.\u201d <\/p>\n In the city of Shiraz, in south-central Iran, long lines for gas have been forming around the city. Residents are also stocking up on food, water, and diapers. <\/p>\n Cars full of families with suitcases and water strapped to the roof have been seen around the city, with many families leaving for the countryside. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, nights have become very quiet in Tehran, residents said. Many shops are closed and many people have either left the city or are too scared to go to work, they said. <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s operation against Iran is expected to take \u201cweeks, not days\u201d and is moving forward with implicit US approval, according to White House and Israeli officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to \u201cstrike every site and every target of the Ayatollah\u2019s regime,\u201d referring to the country\u2019s Supreme Leader. <\/p>\n The Israeli military on Sunday also issued an \u201curgent\u201d evacuation warning to Iranians living near weapons production facilities, saying being nearby would endanger their lives. <\/p>\n In a rare direct address to the people of Iran, Netanyahu on Friday urged its citizens to \u201cstand up and let your voices be heard,\u201d after Israel unleashed deadly strikes on its regional foe. <\/p>\n \u201cThe time has come for the Iranian people to unite around its flag and its historic legacy, by standing up for your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime,\u201d Netanyahu said in a statement. <\/p>\n The Iranian regime remains unpopular at home, where security forces continue their brutal crackdown on dissidents. Nonetheless, the Israeli leader\u2019s call fell on deaf ears. <\/p>\n Some Iranians expressed anger and asserted they would never cede to Netanyahu\u2019s demands. <\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t let the fake news fool you, the reality of what is happening in Iran as an Iranian who has actually lived in Iran, who has their family in Iran, (is that) Israel is in no way helping our people. I don\u2019t need fake news and propaganda speeches,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n Iran has threatened to intensify its own retaliatory attacks if Israel continues hostilities. <\/p>\n Over 200 rocket launches from Iran were reported overnight into Sunday, the Israeli government said, and at least 13 people have been killed in Israel, including three children. <\/p>\n Unofficial tallies published by Iran\u2019s state affiliated media said dozens in the country have been killed and injured in Israeli strikes. Iran\u2019s authorities have yet to declare a death toll. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fear has been gripping Iranians as Israel vows to continue attacking the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, with many fleeing the bigger cities, including the capital Tehran, in search of safer areas. There was chaos as residents ran down to the ground level after smelling smoke from a nearby building that had also been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Netanyahu\u2019s call for Iranian revolt<\/h2>\n