HAJI OMERAN, Iraq — Dozens of Iranians crossed into northern Iraq on Sunday — the first day since the war struck Iran — to buy cheaper food, go online, contact relatives and find work.
Travelers say continued airstrikes and soaring food prices have made life in Iran increasingly desperate.
Trucks laden with cargo snaked through the Haji Omelan border crossing from Iraq’s Kurdish region, providing respite from the high costs on the Iranian side.
Even before the United States and Israel launch war with iranIranian Kurds, who frequently cross the border into Iraqi Kurdistan, share deep family, cultural and economic ties and porous borders that allow for steady trade and regular visits. Today, the Kurdish region of Iraq has become a vital lifeline to the outside world for Iranians in the war-torn region.
“When borders close, everyone is affected. Poor people, rich people, workers,” said Khider Chomani, a truck driver who was traveling to Iran to deliver goods.
The border was closed amid rising military tensions in the region. Iraqi Kurdish authorities have been waiting for Iranian authorities to reopen the crossing.
Nearly all Iranian Kurds who spoke to The Associated Press asked to remain anonymous, saying they feared for their safety and retaliation from Iranian intelligence services, which they claimed monitored anyone who spoke to the media.
They said many Iranian military bases, intelligence offices and other security sites had been destroyed. They say the bombing has restricted the movement of security forces: officers are avoiding official buildings, taking shelter in civilian sites such as schools and hospitals, or remaining mobile in vehicles rather than reporting to offices.
A Kurdish woman from Piranshahr crossed the border to contact relatives and stock up on essentials on Sunday. She has traveled 15 kilometers.
“I came here to make phone calls. There is no internet in most of Iran,” she said. “My relatives have not heard from me for more than 16 days and they are very worried about me.”
With internet outages across the country, many Iranians bought Iraqi SIM cards and gathered near the border to contact and make phone calls to family and friends abroad, she said. She came here to get a SIM card and deliver a message to her family.
She heads to the market in the town just off the road to buy groceries at a fraction of the price in Piranshahr’s hometown. She said she sought basic staples – rice and cooking oil – now prohibitively expensive in Iran due to wartime inflation.
“The situation in Iran is terrible. People don’t feel safe, things are expensive and people don’t want to leave their homes,” she said.
About half an hour later, she hurried back across the border carrying two bags of groceries. She explained that her children were waiting for her at home.
An old woman wearing a black shawl and thin clothing walked alone across the border in the pouring rain. She said she was from Sardasht, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, and was going to Choman, an Iraqi Kurdish region about 40 kilometers from the border, to find distant relatives she knew living there and seek help.
Her son, a cross-border smuggler of cigarettes and other goods, was shot dead by Iranian soldiers 14 months ago. Smuggling is not uncommon along porous borders. He is the family’s sole breadwinner. His death left them penniless and having to care for three children, the eldest of whom only had five.
With food prices soaring, she can barely feed them and is two months behind on her rent, owing about $200. “No one can help me survive,” she said through tears. “The war made things worse – everything became more expensive.”
She failed to call ahead, hoping relatives could help. “There’s nothing I can do, but the kids are hungry and I have to do my best for them,” she said. Later, she stood in the rain waiting for a ride from a passing car.
Iranian workers from three cities crowded into a taxi to return to their jobs in Iraq’s Kurdish region. They said the men worked for the same construction company and planned to stay for a month to earn enough money to cope with rising costs in the country.
“The situation will only get worse and civilians will be the only ones affected,” said one worker. “We leave our children and wives just to come here and work and make some money, otherwise we won’t leave them alone.”
Iranian Kurds living near sites used by Iranian authorities say they have been forced to flee to safer areas to avoid bombings.
A house painter who lives in the Iranian city of Urmia but works in Erbil in northern Iraq says the constant bombardment has become a fact of life. He briefly returned home at his mother’s urging after she was frightened by the explosion. He assured her that the family had no links to Iranian authorities and had nothing to worry about.
The situation was so dire that another Iranian Kurdish metal factory worker living in the Kurdish region of Iraq begged his family in Urmia to relocate and live with him. His family, including his wife and three children, arrived on Sunday and rested at a roadside restaurant.
He said security forces were no longer holed up in the base after repeated attacks. Many military, intelligence and police facilities are in ruins and personnel avoid fixed posts.
“They don’t stay in the office,” he said. “They were in their cars, under bridges, in schools and hospitals. They were driving everywhere. Their base was destroyed.”
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
