STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Several countries across the Middle East have been shooting down Iranian missiles and drones.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The barrage is seen as Iran's response to the killing of Iran's security chief and the head of its paramilitary force. Iran said it fired multiwarhead missiles at Tel Aviv. And this morning, Israel's defense minister says its military killed Iranian intelligence minister Esmaeil Khatib. In a few minutes, we'll talk about these developments with veteran journalist Scott Anderson, but first, we have a glimpse of life inside Iran.
INSKEEP: It comes from people who left their country crossing the border into neighboring Iraq. NPR's Arezou Rezvani met them at a border crossing. Arezou, welcome.
AREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Steve.
INSKEEP: What did you see?
REZVANI: So I spent a few hours at the Haji Omeran border crossing. It's tucked in the mountains, which at this time of year are covered with snow. And as I was interviewing people, we spotted a couple of Iranian drones flying overhead into Iraq.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRONES BUZZING)
REZVANI: Those are the cheap, noisy drones Iran's been launching at U.S. targets all over Iraq and the region. But beyond that, one of the most striking things I observed from my border visit was just how terrified people were to speak. I mean, you could see it in their eyes, and you could hear it in what they chose not to say. I spoke with one woman in her 60s coming from a border city in Iran.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
REZVANI: She asked not to be named for fear of government reprisal, even though she was no longer in Iran. And when I asked her about the war, she was really, really vague. She spoke only about the poor economy and avoided any talk about the war or the government. And then she asked me to turn off my mic.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
REZVANI: She burst into tears and told me that she wished the airstrikes on her city had killed her, that between the war and the security crackdown, life had just really become unbearable.
INSKEEP: You mentioned a security crackdown. What do you hear about that?
REZVANI: So there's been an intense internet blackout in Iran these last couple of weeks. It's been very hard to reach people inside the country. But those who do manage to get online - go through Starlink, for example - describe seeing many more checkpoints in their cities and towns. They say security forces are checking phones. They look for apps that help bypass the internet blackout. They look through videos and text messages. People say they've been getting text messages, presumably from the government, warning them not to join crowds that might turn into protests.
There was one 40-year-old man who lives in a city in eastern Iran, and he asked me not to identify him for fear of government reprisal. And he said in a voice memo that he has seen security forces abandon their stations and move into a mosque and a sports stadium, which is not a common practice. Those stations have been targets. So it's really difficult to verify these accounts, I should note, but numerous people I've spoken with in recent days have shared similar details from this crackdown. And these are also accounts that match testimonies that many human rights groups are also compiling.
INSKEEP: So a lot of suffering inside Iran - and how is Iran trying to push that suffering out into its neighbors?
REZVANI: They have ramped up attacks in the last several hours. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar have intercepted Iranian missiles and drones in recent hours. There were strikes in Israel overnight, including in Tel Aviv. There are deaths reported there. The Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon launched rockets into Israel in the early morning, and Israel has been hitting central Beirut.
I'm talking to you right now from Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Shortly before we started our conversation, there were sounds of large explosions in the distance. There is a large consulate here that's been targeted, but it's really Iraq's capital city Baghdad that's been getting hit hard from Iran-backed militias. So the U.S. embassy there is under constant attack, and it just doesn't seem like this war is slowing down. If anything, it feels like it's intensifying.
INSKEEP: NPR's Arezou Rezvani is in Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Arezou, thanks so much.
REZVANI: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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