According to commentators, the government appears to have chosen a policy of announcing triumph over Israel cracking down war while tightening restrictions at home due to severe economic difficulties and an uneasy populace.
Iranians present at a Friday anti-Israeli event in Tehran
Mehrdad, an engineer in Isfahan, Iran, woke up early on Friday morning to the sound of explosions rattling the windows and rocking the floor. As travelers prepared to board flights in Tehran, they were immediately informed that the airspace was restricted.
They quickly discovered that Israel had invaded Iran.
Mehrdad, 43, realized that the Israelis were targeting a military base outside the city as distant explosions and firing could be heard. In a telephone conversation, he stated that he and his expectant spouse were still afraid that war might break out.
Like other people interviewed for this piece, Mehrdad requested that his last name be suppressed out of fear. “I think Israel wanted to test the water and evaluate with last night’s strikes,” he added.
of vengeance. “I hope that things end here, but I also fear the worst is coming.”
Reason why Israel cracking down war
Apparently, the Iranian leadership also feels this way, since it seemed to be backing down from approaching the verge of war with Israel following a week of vowing to retaliate strongly against any Israeli attack on Iranian soil. Per observers, the government appears to have taken a two-pronged approach, announcing triumph over Israel while also tightening its domestic policies, in response to severe economic difficulties and an uneasy populace.
According to renowned Tehrani researcher and writer Abbas Abdi, “the external and internal challenges are two sides of the same coin for the establishment,” he stated over the phone. They are adopting a tough stance toward both internal dissension and Israel because they believe Both problems have reached a tipping point where they will only worsen if nothing is done.
A regional conflict has been feared as a result of the startling and worrying shift from the decades-long shadow warfare between Iran and Israel that has occurred over the last three weeks. In response to a lethal Israeli strike on the grounds of its embassy in Damascus, Syria, Iran fired a volley of over 300 drones and missiles straight into Israel for the first time. Most of them ended up being intercepted.
Israel responded to calls from world leaders for moderation by using drones to target an Iranian air force installation on Friday. The attack compromised the radar of an S-300 system that was in charge of Natanz’s air defense.
atomic plant located in central Iran. Israel targeted Iran with air-to-ground missiles as well, albeit with less intentional damage. Following the attack, the attack was minimized by Iranian state news media and officials.
People stroll past a big billboard with pictures of missiles.
For decades, Israel and Iran have been engaged in covert combat; nevertheless, in recent weeks, the battle has intensified, stoking worries of a regional war.Arash Khamooshi of The New York Times is credited.
According to Tehran-based expert Nasser Imani, who has strong connections to the leadership, Iran has resolved its issues with Israel and could now afford to defuse the situation.
in a phone interview, “Iranian officials do not want war with Israel.” Iran believes they have created sufficient deterrence, therefore they will stop directly engaging here.
Although it has decreased from the 40% rates of prior years, inflation is still occurring at a rate of 32% annually. Furthermore, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which has substantial economic stakes, and the governing clerics have long been accused of corruption and economic mismanagement by Iranians.
More generally, a populace that has become enraged and bitter in recent years and has turned to the streets often challenges the legitimacy of the administration. As new generations of Iranians desire social and political freedom and prosperity, the government has long fought to uphold the revolutionary and Islamic goals of the 1979 revolution that brought it to power.
The biggest recent insurrection, which was spearheaded by women in 2022, started out as a demonstration against a law that required women and Girls wear baggy clothes to cover their body and hair. It quickly changed into demonstrators calling for the abolition of priestly control. Parliamentary elections in March were hampered by a voter boycott, which resulted in unusually low turnout and a high percentage of blank ballots.
Iranians claim that the administration launched an onslaught at home in an effort to prevent a repeat. According to officials, it dispatched security agents to crack down on women who disobeyed the hijab legislation.
Shortly after commencing its attack on Israel in retaliation for the attack on Damascus, the Iranian regime sent security personnel in battalions to swarm the streets of Tehran and numerous other towns. It shut down numerous establishments for serving women without headscarves, brutally enforced the hijab regulation against them, and threatened to retaliate against anyone who ventured to oppose or inquire about its assaults on Israel.
This week, Iranians went about their daily lives amid a climate of extreme security and surveillance, according to reports. In a phone interview, Fahimeh, 32, claimed that last Monday, while traveling to the gym in Tehran, she came upon a strongly guarded checkpoint that stopped cars at random and searched the female drivers and passengers. She claimed that a different gang was stopping women who were strolling past on foot—many of whom had long hair. She took a scarf out of her purse and covered herself out of fear.
A woman and a small child are observing a display of golden jewelry through a store window.
This week, a street in Tehran. Several Iranians have provided descriptions a climate of extreme surveillance and security throughout the last few days. Arash Khamooshi of The New York Times is credited.
Many women claim that their fears are being exacerbated by the tensions with Israel and the crackdowns on the hijab.
Pouneh, an English teacher in Tehran who is fifty years old, remarked over the phone, “Life is already very hard, I have no idea why the regime is doing this.” Given that they are at war with Israel, why is there such a harsh ban on the hijab? Everyone is angry and tense.
A number of incidents that were caught on camera and swiftly circulated on social media before being shown on BBC Persian show the morality police berating, beating, and forcibly dragging women to police trucks. In one video, a furious woman was seen collapsing on the sidewalk and having trouble breathing after an altercation with the police while onlookers gathered around her.
The scenes have caused a wave of outrage and condemnation, especially considering that Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody during the protests in 2022, which were meant to have led to the abolition of the morality police. She was detained due to her violation of the hijab policy.
The government’s decision to reinstate the hijab regulation has been met with harsh criticism even from those who favor it. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, made the announcement on April 13. They claimed that the efforts had failed in the past and would simply fuel animosity and division at a time when tensions with a foreign foe are already high.
“The nation needs harmony and composure in this critical moment to resist the Zionist regime,” Mohammad Yousefinejad, a conservative lawyer and supporter of the government, said in a social media post. Activating the morality police stemmed from the Interior Ministry’s “stupidity and lack of undrstanding of priorities,” he added.
In the current atmosphere, however, the government has been particularly intolerant of criticism about the tensions with Israel. Mr. Abdi, the analyst, wrote a column in the Etemad newspaper last week saying it was not necessary for Iran to respond to Israel and cautioning that there would be social and economic costs to war. The judiciary promptly announced it had opened a criminal case against him and the newspaper.
Two well-known journalists, Hossein Dehbashi and Yashar Soltani, were summoned to court on charges of “disrupting the psychological security of society” in connection with social media posts expressing concerns about a widening war, local news media reported.
“The notification was received,” Mr. Dehbashi said in a post on X last week. “I will not write for a while.”
Analysts say the government will most likely pursue a policy of hostility toward Israel and uncompromising enforcement of hijab rules for some time.
“They are trying to send two very strong messages simultaneously,” said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, a think tank based in London. “On one hand, Iran feels confident enough to hit Israel and at the same time insecure enough to try to assert the red lines on social and cultural issues inside so that nobody underestimates them.”
The tit-for-tat attacks between Iran and Israel over the past three weeks were a startling and worrisome departure from the shadow warfare they have waged for decades, raising fears of a regional war. Iran responded to a deadly Israeli attack on its embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, by launching a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles directly at Israel for the first time. A majority of them were intercepted.
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