Expected, yet stressful. How Iranians Reacted to Israel’s Attack | Israeli-Palestinian Conflict News

Tehran, Iran – Thousands of Iranians in Tehran were woken up by the sound of explosions in the early hours of Saturday when Israel attacked.

“I heard about ten booms in relatively quick succession,” said Ali, a 32-year-old boy living in western Tehran, where the first booms were heard after 2am (10:30pm GMT on Friday).

Iranians reported on social media that they heard explosions throughout the city and some surrounding areas.

By the time the second round of attacks took place a few hours later, videos were circulating online showing air defenses being activated to counter incoming threats.

“Not that it was unexpected, but it was still stressful. We were up until the morning with relatives checking the news, and we talked to colleagues in our Telegram channels and searched for details,” said Ali, who asked that his surname be withheld.

Echoes of war

In Tehran and elsewhere in the country, life largely continued as usual on Saturday, the first day of the working week in Iran.

Traffic was normal in several parts of the capital and other affected cities.

However, some people were caught up in the immediate effect of the sense of danger and uncertainty resulting from an attack on the country, which has not seen an all-out war on its territory since neighboring Iraq invaded it in the 1980s.

“The local market was selling everything 30-40 percent more expensive than a week ago… but I expect things to calm down tomorrow or in the coming days,” said a 65-year-old resident of the northern province of Gilaan.

A computer salesman at a store in central Tehran said the currency’s turbulence also posed a challenge.

“It has been difficult for more than a month with the constant interest rate fluctuations and price changes, it is bad for business. I really hope that we can avoid war for the sake of everyone, especially in this economy,” he told Al Jazeera.

While the Iranian rial has remained relatively stable since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, it has become shaky amid growing concerns about an all-out regional war.

Recently, it fell from around 600,000 to the dollar a month ago to a high of around 690,000 earlier this week, before regaining some lost ground in the wake of the Israeli attack to reach around 660,000.

As the central bank pumped currencies to tame the market, state media on Saturday expressed hope that the rial could strengthen its range last month.

Gold coins also fell in value by about 5 percent in trading on Saturday, and Iran’s stock market was largely a sea of ​​green after the end of Israeli attacks – which ultimately seemed tamer than originally threatened by Israeli leaders.

‘Limited damage’

After weeks of speculation that Israel could target Iran’s energy infrastructure, authorities said there were no attacks on major refineries, power plants, natural gas pipelines or sensitive nuclear sites.

There have been no threats of direct or immediate retaliation from Iranian authorities to date.

The Israeli strike was expected in retaliation for the Iranian launch of about 200 ballistic missiles into Israel on October 1, although the scale remains unclear.

Iran said the strikes targeted military sites in Tehran and the western provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan, and that air defenses worked well, resulting in “limited damage.”

Two soldiers were killed in the attack, according to a statement from the Iranian armed forces.

On the same day, ten Iranian border guards were killed in an armed attack on a police convoy in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balochistan.

Responsibility was claimed by the armed separatist group Jaish al-Adl, which Tehran considers a “terrorist” group with ties to Israel.