Name: Iran War - Iranians reflect on the conflict and their country's future BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-03-31T13:06:06.000Z
Duration: 4 min 4 s
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Well, since the start of the conflict, hearing the views of ordinary Iranians has been very difficult because of a ban on international calls and internet blackouts,

Footage and interview material obtained by the BBC gives a rare insight into the experiences of those living through the war,

and we've protected the identities of some of those in this report from our special correspondent, Ferkel Keene.

The war moves faster than the speed of sound.

The choking clouds of smoke from burning oil spreading across all lives, civilian and military.

Shockwaves tearing through buildings and bodies.

Using trusted sources inside Iran, we've obtained testimony revealing lives upended by the war.

Zahra, not her real name, was cleaning her home for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.

Everything in the courtyard had been blackened by oil.

It's true that this year we have no visits nor gatherings,

but symbolically we must prepare ourselves, clean our homes,

With communications devastated, many struggle to contact families elsewhere in the country.

Yet Zahra clings to the hope that the war might drive the government from power.

This regime has inflicted so much pain on us over the past 47 years, leaving countless mothers without their children, more than even the war itself did.

So I prefer that there be no ceasefire until this entire regime is gone.

This New Year is filled with foreboding, yet in the markets people still seek ingredients for their festive meals.

They celebrate also the coming of spring in a space that offers a brief respite from conflict.

But the streets belong to the regime and its supporters.

One Tehran student told of her fear that loyalists would keep fighting even if the government was overthrown.

We've not used her voice or name to protect her from retaliation.

Because they believe in what they call a culture of martyrdom, it means they're willing to die but not let the regime fall, because they think its fall means the end of their religion.

Even if the Shah's son Pahlavi comes and tries to form a new government, I think these people will start suicide attacks.

Human rights monitors say 1,400 civilians have been killed, more than 200 of them children.

Every day brings a new round of funerals.

Nearly 1,200 military personnel are reported dead.

Every man over 18 must serve, whatever he thinks of the regime.

This man's friend was a conscript killed in a war he had no choice but to serve in.

I called the other friends and they told me, yes, that a friend of ours had been killed.

If they see you outside the house, they will take you with them.

I definitely won't go because my life would be in danger.

Whatever I can do, I will do, so I won't go into military service.

In its fourth week, there's neither victory nor defeat in this war.