Total repression and air strikes bring unrelenting dread for Iranians

A woman stands on a rooftop listening to the sounds of the city below. There is only the dull hum of traffic tonight. But she knows how easily that can change. It is usually the dogs who notice the sound first and begin to bark furiously. The noise of aircraft. Then the ominous percussion of explosions. A ball of orange rising from an airstrike in a familiar neighbourhood.

The BBC has obtained footage and interviews from Tehran which evoke a city of strained nerves, of constant waiting for the next blast and relentless fear of the state security apparatus.

Baran – not her real name – is a businesswoman in her thirties. She is now too scared to go to work. With the start of the drone attacks, no one dares to go outside. If I open my door and step out, it is like gambling with my life.

She lives alone but is in constant communication with her friends. My friends and I message each other constantly asking where everyone is…and even when there is no sound the silence itself is terrifying. I am doing everything I can to stay alive and witness whatever lies ahead.

Like so many young Iranians, Baran saw her hopes of change devastated in recent months. Thousands of people were killed during a crackdown by regime forces after widespread demonstrations demanding change.

Baran continues, I cannot even remember how I used to live in the past without being reminded of the loved one I lost during the protests. I fear tomorrow. I fear the person I will be tomorrow. Today, I survive somehow, but how will I get through tomorrow? That is the real question. Will I even live through tomorrow?

Now repression is total. Open dissent is impossible as the state's watchers are everywhere. Footage we obtained shows regime supporters driving through the city at night, flags flying from their cars – a message to any who might be tempted to protest. The official narrative is the only one allowed; state television broadcasts footage of demonstrations and funerals, relentlessly denouncing enemies abroad.

Independent journalists continue to try and gather credible alternative views but risk severe consequences for doing so. In wartime conditions you really don't know what they are capable of doing, one journalist noted.

Several Iranians describe conflicting emotions to the BBC. With hopes dashed and fear mounting, many feel the regime is both a source of their daily dread and part of a larger threat. The situation is frightening… one describes. The skies of your country are controlled by enemy forces. But at the same time, there is always a hope in people's hearts.

Baran concludes, This war will not end soon, because this war is inside our homes, inside our families…The war has entered our blood and has entered our lives. The citizens of this 6,000-year-old city are living in dread of American and Israeli bombs, of the regime and its torturers—a daily unrelenting dread from which there is no sign of escape.