Tehran residents describe threats, shortages, and fear after Khamenei death - report

Debris lies scattered in the aftermath of a strike on a police station, in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2026

(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

Iranian residents said that regime forces told them that anyone who protests would be considered "Israeli collaborators," a report from BBC Persian said earlier this week.

"Every day they send SMS messages warning that if we go outside, they will deal with us harshly," Salar, whose name has been changed, a resident of Tehran, told BBC Persian, adding that he believes the implication to be that anyone who disobeyed might be killed.

Other Tehran residents told BBC Persian that conditions in the city are growing increasingly harsh, with high prices for staples such as eggs and potatoes, and long lines to receive bread or petrol. Most stores in Tehran are closed, they said, other than supermarkets and bakeries. Some cash machines are also out of service.

"On the first day, people were chanting, and everyone seemed happy. But now there are police forces around," one shared.

Iranian people commute past a massive billboard of the slain resistance figures recently installed in Enghelab Square in downtown Tehran, Iran. (credit: Mohammadali Najib / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

The security pressure reportedly increased after the death of Iran's former supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Kaveh, whose name has been changed, a resident of Zanjan told BBC Persian about when he first learned about Khamenei's death.

"I had always imagined that moment would feel like happiness, but it didn't," he said. "Almost all the years of my life and the lives of millions like me were destroyed and thousands lost their lives - and yet he himself was removed from the scene in a single moment, [which] made me truly angry."

One of the main struggles, other than survival, facing the residents of Iran was the internet blackout, which prevented people from maintaining contact with loved ones and from accessing accurate news.

Kaveh said that when he's able to access the internet, using a VPN, he uses it to help "friends outside Iran who have no news from their families - to get updates or pass along messages".

Many have already left Tehran, but some are unable to, Salar said, adding that one friend's grandmother is ill and cannot be moved.

"Each day has felt like a month," he said. "The volume of attacks is so high."

"I doubt any of us will ever be the same as before," Salar added, "Those abroad, especially monarchists, really don't know what we are experiencing. I hope they never have to."