Under attack for two days: footage of an explosion in Tehran on Sunday, March 1st. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Image: keystone
Bomb hits, traffic jams, stockpiling and hardly any internet at all: Since Saturday, millions of people in Iran have experienced how the war has changed their everyday lives within hours. Reliable information hardly reaches the outside world.
March 1, 2026, 7:51 p.mMarch 1, 2026, 7:51 p.m
On Saturday morning at 7:13 a.m. Swiss time, a young woman from Tehran sent a video to watson. You can see smoke rising in your neighborhood. “It just happened,” she says.
She was lying on the couch, then heard the bombs and immediately jumped onto the balcony. Outside she heard someone shouting: “Death to the dictator.” Your message ends with the sentence: “We are finally going to be free.”
A little later she writes that many people wanted to leave the city despite Trump’s call to stay at home. Many people don’t have enough food at home. She also wanted to leave the city to go to her mother in the country.
Shortly afterwards she writes: There are people on the streets, the traffic is chaotic, cars are standing still and honking. It took her partner four hours to get home instead of the usual one and a half. Many people are already at gas stations and stores to buy supplies.
Crowds tried to leave the capital.Image: keystone
This exact picture can also be found in international reports. In Tehran, shortly after the attacks began, long lines formed in front of gas stations, many people tried to leave the city and traffic broke down in places. Reuters images from Saturday show queues at Tehran gas stations and long lines of cars.
Internet blackout in Iran
At the same time, the country was further digitally sealed off. The young Iranian woman wrote shortly after 11 a.m. Swiss time on Saturday: “The internet is so awful.” Since then there has been radio silence.
Shutting down all communication options has long been a strategy of the regime and was most recently used across the board during the demonstrations at the beginning of January.
International reports are now talking about an almost complete internet blackout since Saturday. Those too Washington Post reported an almost total failure of internet connections. Reuters also reported cyberattacks on Iranian websites and digital services in the first hours after the attacks.
How AlJazeera writes, Tehran’s streets were largely empty on Saturday evening, while the explosions continued to be heard. At the same time, state media showed members of the Revolutionary Guard on motorcycles and in vehicles in the center of the capital.
What else happened in Iran on Sunday is difficult to reliably verify from the outside. But it is clear: Reactions in the country were divided. While, according to international reports, thousands of people gathered in Tehran to mourn Ali Khamenei, Reuters footage and other reports from several Iranian cities also showed scenes of celebration: people danced in the streets, honked and cheered over the death of the long-time ruler.
How the people in Iran are really feeling will become clear in the next few days.