The residents of Tehran left the scoop after Israeli strikes

Zahra, a 53 -year -old Iranian woman, was awake at about 3:30 am on Friday due to the sound of the silent explosions that shook her apartment in Tehran.

Initially, she wondered whether it was just a thunderstorm. But when she ascended to her balcony, there was a dark reality in: The neighbors in the western region of Chitagar were screaming and running out of their homes in a state of panic.

“People rushed to the streets, men and women scream,” Israel has attacked! Zahra told the Financial Times, they are still shocking. Are we really in the war now? “

On Friday night, it turned into a long and destructive ordeal – especially for the leaders of the Islamic Republic. The Israeli strikes, which were launched in the hollow of the night, have launched many senior leaders and nuclear scientists in Iran, and were affected by one of the precious nuclear sites in the country.

in TehranThe population in a city with a population of 10 milliliters woke up to losses, smoke and confusion after the explosions that were frequented through the middle class areas in the eastern and western neighborhoods, as well as in the northern archaeological regions where many of the elite of the regime reside.

The entire city found itself weak – a flagrant sign of the Israel intelligence network that penetrates deep into the republic. The attack coincides with the first time that Israel struck the civilian areas in the Iranian capital.

At least six nuclear scientists were killed and almost the same number of higher military figures were either in their homes or at the military headquarters in the Iranian capital.

Among the losses was Major General Husen Salami, a leader Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), hours after the United States and Israel warned that his forces are “ready for all scenarios”.

“We have experience in war, we are experienced, we have built power, we have a strategy, we have set goals,” I declare. He was killed while he was at the headquarters of IRGC in eastern Tehran.

The Revolutionary Guards said that the commander of the Air Force, Amir, is a barn and other officers who were killed in a strike at the IRGC center.

In another huge blow, Major General Mohamed Baghri, head of the armed forces, was killed at his home, perhaps during sleep.

This was a loss, unlike anything that was seen even during the Iran and Iraq war in the 1980s, which is the bloody conflict, and the longest conflict that the Islamic Republic has ever faced.

It was also distinguished by the first time that Israel has targeted residential buildings to remove the major figures involved in Iranian nuclear enrichment and the development of ballistic missiles and regional policies.

The question that the Iranians faced on Friday: Is this the comprehensive war that they all feared?

Reports on explosions have emerged throughout the country, from central Iran to the northwest, including the main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. Israel said on Friday that it had “damaged” the underground area on the site.

Government television has shown damaged residential buildings, while others are still in fire, with firefighters, ambulances and ordinary people who are offering help to extract survivors. Local media and eyewitnesses confirmed that an unknown number of civilians, including women and children, had been killed in the attacks.

The leaders of the Islamic Republic, including the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khawni, pledged rapid revenge. In an attempt to resolve the project, Khounai also announced an immediate replacement of the senior leaders who were killed.

But Israel’s decision to strike at this time reflects its evaluation that the regime was weak. Since the October 7 attacks conducted by Hamas in 2023, Israel has dealt with a severe strike for investment in Iran in the so-called resistance axis-a network of alliances that include Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias, Hamas, and Yemen.

In particular, these forces aim to protect Iran from a direct confrontation with Israel or the United States. But they suffered from devastating losses, leaving Tehran more exposed.

Iranian revenge options are also limited. While Tehran often threatened to respond against American facilities in the region, this would risk direct conflict with the United States. Since the strikes, Khamenei’s statement and other mysterious officials have been mysterious details of Iran’s strategy.

At the same time, it was not clear whether Iran would continue its indirect nuclear talks with the United States. The discussions, which were facilitated by Oman, had seen both sides clinging to the stubbornness of their red lines. Iran insists on continuing to enrich uranium locally, even at the risk of Israeli or American military action, while the United States requires the dismantling of all nuclear facilities.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump warned against Iran against the upcoming “brutal” attacks, and called on Tehran to “hold a deal” on its nuclear program “before there is nothing.”

Ali Larijani, the chief political consultant in Khamnai, criticized the American repetition, accusing Trump of supporting the diplomatic path while coordinating the Israeli attack on the same day. “This indicates that the American nation has a clown as a president … which cannot be trusted,” Larijani told the government television.

Since it weighs how to respond, Iran will take into account the local front.

Iran has faced the assassination of many higher figures since the troubled years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, including the loss of both the President and the Prime Minister in one bombing. However, over the decades, the system enables the installation of its internal affairs. It has long photographed Iran as one of the safest countries in the region – a narration based on a mixture of local repression and regional strategy to export the conflict through the agent’s forces to maintain the war away from its borders.

But the system is now facing the composition of economic pressure that can raise general turmoil. After the attacks, the Iranian police chief Ahmed Reda Radan urged calm, and advised citizens to follow the official news channels and warn that anyone disrupted the regime will face the prosecution.

“It is true that we lost the leaders, which is bitter … but this will not shake the (political) regime,” said Alauddin Borogeri, a senior member of Parliament, on government television. He confessed to heavy attack, but he suggested that it could lead to a shift in the military situation.

He added: “We cannot let them (Israeli citizens) are immune during the attack of our capital and kill women and children.” “We need a new deterrence to punish this system.”