{"id":31688,"date":"2024-04-21T05:03:04","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T05:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/21\/crackdowns-attacks-and-threat-of-war-put-iranians-on-edge\/"},"modified":"2024-04-21T05:03:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T05:03:04","slug":"crackdowns-attacks-and-threat-of-war-put-iranians-on-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/21\/crackdowns-attacks-and-threat-of-war-put-iranians-on-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Crackdowns, Attacks and Threat of War Put Iranians on Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Crackdowns,<\/div>


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In the early hours of Friday, Mehrdad, an engineer in Isfahan, Iran, woke to the sound of explosions rattling the windows and shaking the ground. In Tehran, passengers about to board flights were abruptly told the airspace was closed. <\/p>\n

Israel, they soon learned, had attacked Iran.<\/p>\n

As booms and gunfire went off in the distance, Mehrdad, 43, came to realize that the Israelis\u2019 target was a military base on the outskirts of the city. He and his pregnant wife remained fearful that war would break out, he said in an interview by phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Israel wanted to test the water and evaluate with last night\u2019s strikes,\u201d said Mehrdad, who, like others interviewed for this article, asked that his last name be withheld for fear of retribution. \u201cI fear the worst is coming, but I also hope that things end here.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, apparently, does the Iranian government, which after a week of promising a forceful response to any Israeli attack on Iranian territory, appeared to be standing down from nearly going to the brink of war with Israel. Facing deep economic troubles and a restive population, the government seems to have adopted a two-track policy, analysts say, declaring victory over Israel and cracking down at home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n