'Like the sky was torn open': At Turkey border, Iranians recall terror in Tehran

“The first two days were okay, people said it would just end. But then it started escalating and people really started panicking,” said Mehran Ataei of the Israeli bombardment of Tehran.

Speaking to AFP at the Kapikoy crossing on the Turkish border, the 58-year-old Franco-Iranian, who lives in Paris, fled Tehran on the fifth day of an escalating war with Israel.

As well as the ongoing bombardments, those fleeing the capital spoke of very limited internet access, problems withdrawing money after two major banks were hacked and food shortages.

Standing with her was her 27-year-old daughter Lida Pourmomen.

“It was really stressful because we didn’t leave together and Tuesday night was the worst night Tehran had experienced so far,” explained Pourmomen, taking up the story.

“After my mum left, it felt like the sky was being torn open. I thought I might never see her again,” she said, describing chaotic scenes of explosions, smoke and the terror of not knowing if the ear-splitting sounds were air defence systems or incoming missiles.

The pair had been due to fly back to Paris on Saturday but with all flights cancelled, they were stranded, repeatedly calling the French embassy for help.

They eventually got through on Monday but were advised “to stay in Tehran” — advice which they ignored, although an official email advising French citizens to leave was eventually sent out Tuesday.

“But there’s barely any internet access — there’s a window of two or three hours when you have access, so it’s likely most people didn’t receive the email telling them to leave,” Pourmomen said.

“If we hadn’t decided on our own to leave Tehran, I don’t know what would have happened,” said her mother as they braced for the next leg of their journey — a 25-hour bus trip to Istanbul then a flight home.

– ‘It became very bad’ –

At the crossing, an AFP correspondent counted several dozen people arriving on Thursday morning, with a Turkish defence ministry saying there was “no increase” in numbers despite the escalating violence.

“In the early days, it was just a few bombs but later it became very bad,” said a 50-year-old Iranian pharmacist living in Melbourne who did not want to give her name.

She arrived in Tehran on the day the bombing started to visit her mother in intensive care, eventually fleeing the city for the Turkish border five days later.

“People are really panicking. Yesterday the internet stopped and two major banks were hacked so people couldn’t access their money. And there’s not even enough food,” she told AFP.

People were moving to the north where it was “a little bit better but it’s not safe really,” she said.

“We had war before, but this one is terrible because you can’t predict it and it’s very brutal.”

Although observers believe only the Iranian people can bring about change, the pharmacist admitted she was not optimistic.

“They expect people to change the regime, but they can’t. They are very panicked and scared and the regime is very brutal,” she told AFP.

And it seemed unlikely that the US would step in, despite the belligerent rhetoric from President Donald Trump.

“We know (Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei is the source of the problem but Trump says ‘I don’t want to kill him’. If you really wanted to end the war, why say that?” she said.

“Trump just pretends he wants to stop the war. This dictatorship regime is supported by the USA.”

Another Iranian called Ismail Rabie, a retired 69-year-old who was trying to get back to his home in London, said the situation in Iran would not change unless Western powers really wanted it.

“It all depends on America or Europe: if they want change, it will change, if they don’t, it won’t,” he said before heading off to Istanbul.