Since the night of June 13, Sanam (who requested to have her name changed) has not slept. Around 3 am, the tower in northern Tehran where Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, lived was hit by an Israeli attack. "At first, I thought it was a thunderclap, but I soon saw objects in the sky. A few seconds later, a huge explosion rang out," said Sanam, 30, an IT specialist whom Le Monde contacted via WhatsApp. Since then, she has had many sleepless nights, staying awake restlessly watching the news and constantly scanning the sky, "because Israel strikes hard at night."

Since June 13, 2025, Israel has been carrying out strikes on Iranian military and strategic infrastructure. These attacks have, however, also caused significant civilian casualties. Two hospitals were hit, one in the western city of Kermanshah and another in Tehran.

On the night of June 19 to 20, Sanam, in a panic, called her friends who had left Tehran for the northern city of Rasht after they saw the Israeli military post an evacuation order for the city on X. "I told them to take shelter. They didn't have internet, but I had a little [service]," she explained. An hour later, five projectiles struck the Sefid Rud industrial complex in Rasht. Her friends described the sky turning as bright as day from the explosion. Then they saw planes heading toward Tehran. Minutes later, Sanam's apartment shook. "The Israelis struck the Nobonyad and Lavizan neighborhoods, not far from my house," said Sanam, who has sheltered in the basement every time she heard a threatening noise. The strikes continued through Friday night into Saturday, intensifying further in Tehran, Rasht, and Isfahan.

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