When the U.S.-Israeli bombing began overnight in Tehran, Iran, some residents in the city of nearly 10 million described the strikes as among the worst they had experienced since the war began. And that was before the U.S. defense secretary vowed things would get even worse Tuesday.

The bombings — which Iranians said hit civilian targets as well as military ones — spread terror overnight Monday into Tuesday and made the air unbreathable, said a resident named Javad.

“It seems they are striking everywhere: homes, schools, mosques, hospitals,” said Javad, who like most people who spoke from inside Iran, asked that his full name be withheld for fear of retaliation. From 10 p.m. to past midnight, people in Tehran, the Iranian capital, could hear the sound of bombing “north, south, east and west,” he said.

“If they keep hitting Tehran like this for another 10 days,” he added, “nothing will remain of Tehran.”

The scope of the strikes has expanded in recent days from mostly military and security sites. Cultural heritage sites in the ancient city of Isfahan have been damaged, officials said. In Tehran, residents say strikes were also hitting critical infrastructure.

“The air is not breathable,” Javad said. “Last night they hit the high-voltage electricity lines. They will also strike gas and water. Acid rain fell and the air is polluted. They will hit all the infrastructure, and they have no hesitation about killing.”

Hard to Know Civilian Toll

It was hard to gauge the civilian toll amid the strikes. Local journalists say that authorities often block them from gaining access to bomb sites to get a sense of the casualties and rescue operations.

Some U.S. officials have said that even more punishing strikes were to come. In a news conference Tuesday, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, said, “Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes.”

The experience of being bombed is even more terrifying because the government is sharing little information and sending few alerts, said Ali, an engineer in Tehran. Ordinary Iranians are cut off from the internet, and Ali said people had resorted to calling friends and relatives in areas where they saw fighter jets headed.

The ferocity of the attacks has divided sentiment among opponents of the government after a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests by security forces in January. Thousands were killed.

“Some people are comfortable with the bombings — I know that may sound strange,” Ali said. “They are upset if there is a night without bombing, and fear the war might end while the regime remains. You can see this clearly. People say we have already paid enough of a price and the Islamic Republic must go.”

Ali said he was sympathetic to that view. “Our lives have no value for the Islamic republic,” he said. “We are the government’s human shields.”

U.S. Central Command has said it is not targeting civilians. But it has accused Iran of using civilian areas to conduct military operations and has argued that those “could become legitimate military targets.”

“Who decides who is an agent or a person of the Islamic Republic?” Javad said. “A traffic officer, an ordinary police officer, a criminal court, a family court; do these belong to the Islamic Republic? I don’t think so. Who decides who is a criminal and who is not? This is a very strange phase. It’s a human and moral catastrophe.”

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Leily Nikounazar and Erika Solomon/Arash Khamooshi
c. 2026 The New York Times Company