'There's no way to flee': Tehran residents brace for more strikes

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00A city of 10 million hunkering down, waiting and preparing for the worst.

00:05Iranians woke to near-empty streets in Tehran.

00:08Shops shuttered and the historic Grand Bazaar closed.

00:11The only lines in sight were cars queuing for petrol,

00:15with many hoping to leave the Iranian capital.

00:18With Donald Trump calling for an immediate evacuation of the city

00:21and with Israel calling for civilians to flee an area of the city center,

00:25many residents on social media say they have nowhere to go.

00:30We cannot flee. There's no way to flee.

00:35We're here shut inside, waiting. Till when?

00:38We don't know how long this situation will last or how long we'll be alive.

00:45For days now, the traffic has been bumper to bumper on streets leaving the city.

00:50But there are no specific plans or guidelines for an evacuation.

00:54Tehran's population is roughly the equivalent of the entire country of Israel.

00:58Iranian authorities insist that all is under control.

01:02Iranian media, though, reported explosions and heavy defense fire.

01:05And Israel claims to have killed Ali Shadmani, the armed forces chief of staff and an aide to the supreme leader.

01:12He is just one in a long list of Iranian top brass that have been killed in Israeli strikes since Friday.

01:18Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims they're now using a new powerful wave of missiles towards Israel.

01:24And it says it's destroyed strategic targets with drones.

01:29Air raid sirens could be heard over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

01:33But loud booms have intercepted missiles above those cities' skies.

01:37There, too, civilians are seeking refuge, with many fleeing to underground bomb shelters and parking lots.

01:43We ran to the shelters and that's what saved our lives.

01:48If we hadn't made it there, we wouldn't be here now.

01:51My neighbor didn't have time to reach the shelter and was crushed under the rubble.

01:56In Hutzliah, just north of Tel Aviv, firefighters rushed to extinguish smoldering buses that were hit by Iranian strikes.

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