Expected, but stressful. How the Iranians reacted to the Israeli attack | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

Tehran, Iran – Thousands of Iranians in Tehran were awakened by the sound of explosions early Saturday morning when Israel attacked.

“I heard about 10 booms in quick succession,” said Ali, a 32-year-old resident of western Tehran, where the first booms were heard just after two in the morning (22:30 GMT Friday).

Iranians took to social media to report hearing explosions throughout the city and other surrounding areas.

When the second round of attacks arrived a few hours later, videos circulated online showing air defenses being activated to fight incoming threats.

“It's not that it was unexpected, but there was pressure. We stayed up until dawn with our family checking the news, we were talking to our colleagues on our Telegram channels looking for information,” said Ali, who asked that his last name be withheld.

Echoes of war

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

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

Some people, however, were caught off guard by the immediate impact of the danger and uncertainty from the attack on the country, which has not seen an unending war on its soil since neighboring Iraq invaded it in the 1980s.

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

A computer salesman at a store in downtown Tehran said the currency crisis also posed a challenge.

“It has been difficult with price fluctuations and price changes for more than a month now, it is bad for business. I hope we can avoid war for everyone's sake, especially in this economy,” he told Al Jazeera.

While Iran's rial has remained stable since the start of Israel's war in Gaza, it has weakened amid growing concerns of a regional war.

Most recently, it dropped from 600,000 to the dollar last month to a high of around 690,000 earlier this week, then regained lost ground after the Israeli attack to reach around 660,000.

As the central bank withdraws money to control the market, state-linked media expressed hope on Saturday that the rial could be stronger than last month.

Gold coins were also down about 5 percent in value during Saturday's trading, and the Iranian stock market was mostly a sea of ​​blue after the conclusion of the Israeli strikes – which turned out to be easier than Israel's leaders had initially threatened.

'Limited damages'

After weeks of speculation that Israel could target Iran's energy infrastructure, officials said there were no strikes on major refineries, power stations, natural gas pipelines, or critical nuclear sites.

There have been no threats of direct or immediate retaliation from the Iranian authorities so far.

The Israeli attack was expected, in retaliation for Iran's launch of 200 missiles at Israel on October 1, although the extent is unclear.

Iran said the attack targeted military bases in Tehran and the western provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan, and that its air defenses were effective, causing “limited damage”.

Two soldiers were killed in the attack, according to a statement from Iran's military.

On the same day, 10 Iranian border guards were killed in an attack on an armed police team in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balochistan.

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