Iranians in India say families have started leaving Tehran

Nearly a month has passed since the conflict in West Asia, and people in Tehran, the capital of Iran, are beginning to worry that the situation will get worse. Their woes have been compounded by ambiguous statements from Washington and threatening rhetoric from Tel Aviv. Iranians living in India told The Times of India on Friday that their relatives back home have started moving out of residential areas in the capital amid speculation that “enemies” will launch ground attacks in parts of their country in the coming days.“People are panicking. People are deeply concerned. No one knows whether the current (ceasefire) talks will bear fruit or lead to a suspension of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes… Many families living in Tehran, including mine, have started leaving their homes for ‘safer’ rural areas in the north,” said Roya, an Iranian national.She added that she had lived in Mumbai with her husband for the past few years, adding that her family and friends would not wait until the next 10 days – as announced by US President Donald Trump – for “more aggressive things” to begin between the US and Israel. She said some of her family decided to move to their ancestral home in a quiet village far away from Tehran.Reza, an Iranian citizen who has lived in Bengaluru for about four years, said residents were rationing groceries and essentials. “They saw the heavy bombing and were scared,” he said.“We learned lessons from the Iraq war. At that time, collecting rations, especially dry food, was part of the culture at that time and lasted for at least two months. So far, there is no food shortage in Tehran, but people there no longer trust Trump… Day and night we see how our cities are being bombed. They can launch a ground attack in our country at any time. Reza added that his family called him for “about two minutes” on Thursday.“One of the major problems we face is lack of connectivity,” Reza said. “Calls to Iran from abroad are still not allowed…”However, the Iranian government “mitigated the communication disruption by allowing video calls on social media apps.” “Thankfully, after almost a month, I finally saw the faces of my family on Friday through a video call on the Bell app. But we couldn’t speak and could only cry. Only God knows what will happen next,” said an Iranian woman in Delhi.