‘I live in Iran – we’re scared the guards can shoot us whenever they want to’
The voices of ordinary Iranians are escaping the war-torn country despite the internet blackout.
Millions are watching on as their neighbourhoods are bombed and Iran’s leadership is wiped out.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Mullahs are clinging to power after US President Donald Trump called for a popular uprising to topple the regime.
One Iranian woman has braved fear of retaliation to tell Metro of how the IRGC are still using terror and threat of violence to repress dissent.
Rozita* says her and her family do not fear the ‘very accurate and neat’ missile strikes from the US and Israel.
Speaking through the activist group Stage of Freedom, she told Metro: ‘We just fear the undercover people and the IRGC.
‘They are all fully armed in the streets. Every now and then, you see people without formal dress or clothing, who have guns and Kalashnikovs.’
Weeks after the Iranian regime killed thousands by suppressing nationwide protests, Rozita said that the fear of armed violence has not gone away.
She added: ‘They can shoot you if they feel they want to. That is our biggest fear.’
Rozita, who is a member of the pro-democracy Stage for Freedom, said the Iranians she knew were overjoyed when the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was tearily announced on national TV.
The supreme leader was found dead in the rubble when he was assassinated in his compound on Saturday.
Rozita said: ‘We are all happy Khamenei is dead.
‘This is a very great thing. We have a very strange feeling of happiness and hope, as well as sadness, because our lives would have been spared if he died earlier.’
Donald Trump has said that 30,000 people were killed in the uprisings that took hold of Iran in January.
The regime’s treatment of protestors, as well as their renewed attempts to develop nuclear weapons, were the reasons given by Iran for his decision to launch strikes against the IRGC over the weekend.
The military action saw the regime implement another internet blackout, weeks after the last one ended over the nationwide protests.
Despite this Iranians are finding ways to get around the shutdown by usingSpaceX Starlink terminals, decentralized messaging networks and virtual private networks .
Rozita was able to connect to the outside world to convey her message that she supports the US and Israel’s intervention in Iran, and instead is horrified by Iranian retaliation across the Gulf.
‘This regime is crazy. It is made from madness,’ she said.
‘They have attacked all the countries around them.’
Trump has repeatedly said the Iranian people should take over the government when the time is right.
Rozita says her and her family are already looking to the future of Iran and who will lead the country.
The son of the exiled Shah, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, has become a vocal opposition leader against the regime, but Trump has doubted his ability to win broad support inside Iran.
Nonetheless, Rozita says many people have unified around him.
She added: ‘I believe in Mr Pahlavi as a leader. All my family and friends think the same name. We used to think in different ways but now we are united.’
Videos that escaped Iran during the nationwide protests did show demonstrators chanting for Pahlavi and his late father.
Ellie Borhan, who founded the activist group Stage for Freedom in the UK and has been communicating with Rozita, said Iranians in exile have ‘learnt courage from the young people inside Iran’.
She said: ‘Whenever we start to worry, we look at them and see that they are not worried at all.
‘They tell us not to worry about them. They ask only that the pressure and attacks against the regime do not stop until the Islamic Republic is gone.’
Borhan added: ‘I often wish I could be beside them during these days, inside Iran, standing with them, fighting for freedom and for taking back our country.’
Ellie told Metro that Rozita has promised to meet her in Tehran when Iran becomes free.
Rozita said: ‘When Iran becomes free, I will see and hug you in Tehran. If I don’t survive, celebrate on my behalf when victory comes.’
*Name has been changed to protect their anonymity.
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