As airstrikes intensify, Iranians are flocking to the borders

Sandwiched between the barren mountains straddling the nearly 600-kilometre-long border between Iran and Turkey, families pull suitcases and push strollers through a heavily secured gate toward waiting taxis and vans.

Some are fleeing Iran to escape the intensifying airstrikes, while others are trying to enter the country to reunite with families, after days of internet blackouts made it impossible to contact them.

With Iranian airspace closed, they have had to resort to remote border crossings. 

“We got to go [to Iran] and be with our family … but maybe we will leave again,” said Ali Sadra Souf, who was trying to cross into Iran at the Kapikoy-Razi border crossing. 

Souf was vacationing in Turkey when Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on June 13. On Sunday — just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump thrust Washington directly into the war with attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites — he was making his way back home with his mother. 

Souf was comfortable having his image and full name published, but most of the Iranians CBC News spoke with asked to remain anonymous or only be identified by their first name because they feared possible repercussions for speaking about the government. 

Iran is ruled by a strict theocratic regime that took power after the revolution in 1979. Inside the country, opposition is met with stiff and violent repression. 

People have been killed or imprisoned for even the slightest signs of protest. Independent media isn’t tolerated and the state has ultimate control over the narrative it projects beyond Iran’s borders. 

The country of around 90 million is politically divided, and those who spoke to CBC News expressed differing opinions about who is ultimately to blame for the escalating tensions and where the conflict might lead. 

However, they are united by the fact that their lives have been disrupted — and even endangered — by the airstrikes, which the Israeli government says are precisely directed at military sites and targets tied to the Iranian regime. 

At the same border crossing, a 25-year-old Iranian told CBC News that in the first few days of Israel’s air campaign, the situation was terrible in the capital, Tehran. 

“It was so bad … I heard between 10 to 15 explosions around my home,” he said. 

The man, who was on his way to Toronto after recently receiving a work visa, didn’t want his name published because he feared that he could face retribution when he eventually returns to visit his family. 

When asked about what Iranians thought about the prospect that the conflict could lead to a regime change, he chose his words carefully.  

“There are different groups in the country, and yes, some of them are now in the streets,” he said.

“But most people just want to live in peace … without any problems and without any fights.”

He didn’t yet have a plane ticket to Canada because he said some of the Iranian banks weren’t working. Iran’s government said it imposed a near-universal internet blackout for much of last week as a measure to guard against cyber attacks. 

‘Just trying to survive this moment’

Over the past few days, CBC News reached out to several contacts in Iran. Most couldn’t respond because they couldn’t connect to the internet. But when service was partially restored on Saturday, people began to reply with voice memos from cities across the country. 

“[Everyone] is just trying to survive this moment,” said a man who only wanted to be identified as Hamed.

“We don’t really have much trust in the situation that the government is creating … there seems to be a kind of solidarity among the people.”

Earlier last week, Hamed said, he joined the mass exodus out of Tehran. He described driving along traffic-clogged roadways while the sounds of explosions echoed throughout the night. 

The journey to the city of Qazvin, which should have taken less than two hours, took nine. 

“There were so many accidents,” he said. “The roads weren’t safe. Long queues for petrol stretched along the roadside, making it worse.” 

He said he was particularly angered by the internet blackout because it meant that those outside Iran weren’t getting an accurate sense of the impact of the airstrikes. 

On Saturday, Iran’s Health Ministry said some 400 Iranians had been killed and another 3,056 wounded in the Israeli strikes. 

But on Sunday, a Washington-based group, Human Rights Activists, stated that its figures showed the death toll was higher, with more than 800 killed. 

Among the dead, the group said it identified 363 civilians and 215 security forces personnel.

Growing anger at U.S., Israel

Just hours before the U.S. struck Iran’s nuclear sites with bombers and cruise missiles, Hamed predicted that if Washington chose to become involved, Iranian society would unite in anger.

“Hatred toward Israel and the U.S. is rising sharply here,” he said.

“This fantasy that a foreign power … could somehow lead us to freedom — we just don’t see that as a possibility.”

Still others believe that the Israeli strikes on Iran’s military and security infrastructure are destabilizing the regime, even if there are no outward signs that the government is about to topple. 

“We hope this war will bring an end to the dictatorship of the Islamic Republic,” said a 70-year-old woman who only wanted to be identified by the name Homa. 

“[Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamanei has been at war with the entire world for decades and has kept the Iranian people in sorrow, grief and misery.”

Khamenei has maintained his grip on power since 1989 by controlling virtually all facets of society, including the armed forces and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

In a voice message, Homa said that before she left Tehran, there were checkpoints all over the city and cars were being constantly searched. 

Alam Saleh, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, was visiting Tehran after he was invited to speak at a conference. 

He remains in the capital but estimates that in a city of about 10 million, roughly a third have left. 

Saleh said GPS navigation systems aren’t working because Iran is using jamming systems to try to disrupt Israeli air attacks. 

During one of the voice messages he sent to CBC News, the sounds of explosions could be heard in the background. 

While he admitted he was concerned for his safety, he said he wasn’t ready to head north to a safer area of the country just yet. 

“I have witnessed the 1979 revolution. I witnessed the Iran-Iraq war,” he said.

“I think this is probably another very historical moment for Iran in its contemporary history.”