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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
William Christou, Deepa Parent and Shah Meer Baloch

‘What if the strikes hit us on the highway?’: Thousands flee Tehran amid bombardment

Veliasr Square in Tehran
Veliasr Square in Tehran on 17 June. A resident estimated ‘more than half’ of the city’s population had left, an estimate the Guardian could not verify. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

As Farhad* and his friends left Tehran, they had plenty of time to survey the destruction. Smoke billowed from rooftops and flames flickered behind them as they inched their way through miles-long traffic to escape Israel’s bombardment of Iran’s capital city.

Despite leaving early on Tuesday morning, it took Farhad six hours to reach his ancestral village, a journey that usually would take no more than two-and-a-half hours.

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