Traditional Iranian food
By Alireza Bahrami
Correspondent for AsiaN
TEHRAN: War brings people to contentment. All the ordinary and even annoying things that you used to have in your daily life become a valuable wish for you. The people of Iran on the first day of the ceasefire, were asking, are we going back to the past?
Despite all the international and national tensions in these few decades, which were mostly verbal, the people of Iran never thought that they would be in the middle of a devastating and deadly war. Especially since in the last few years, Iranian diplomacy has been very active.
For the past 12 days and 13 nights, the people of Iran have only wished to return to their old life. Even the traffic in Tehran became a wish. For this reason, from the morning of the 13th day of the war, when the ceasefire became official, people followed the news with concern. The news, like any other ceasefire, spoke of limited violations of the ceasefire by the parties to the conflict. And this was worrying.
Tehran gradually became busier on the first day of the ceasefire. People were returning home.
War creates hatred and friendship. The Israeli attack on Iran increased national unity in Iran, contrary to expectations. The war also increased hatred of Israel in Iran. Hatred of Israel, especially in the Iranian intellectual community, is now increasing significantly.
War is a killer. In the Israeli attack on Iran, 606 Iranians were killed. On the last night of the war, 104 were killed in the attacks. Because a few hours before the ceasefire, heavy attacks were carried out on Tehran and several other cities in Iran.
More than 60 of the dead were children, more than 230 were women, five were doctors, four were Red Cross aid workers and 42 were athletes in taekwondo, wrestling, football … One of the dead was a basketball player and a firefighter. Of course, some of the men who died were soldiers or generals.
War is devastating. On the last night, there were several huge explosions around our house. Today, on the first day of the ceasefire, we went to my uncle’s house for lunch. About a kilometer away from our house. At the beginning of the street where their house is located, an apartment was completely destroyed. In the past few days, I have seen some houses that had been attacked. None of them were as badly destroyed. Today I saw men who had obviously been searching for things for hours in the rubble. Some of them had already left their homes and were now looking for their valuables; some were looking for traces of the bodies of their relatives.
Two of my former colleagues at the news agency and one of my current colleagues lost their families and relatives in the war. Bita, a girl who worked for Meiz Hani, lost her brother, her brother’s wife, and her brother’s son. They are still waiting for the identification of her brother’s body so they can hold the funeral. Mina, a girl who worked for our social desk, lost her sister. Her sister’s husband is a fighter who is in prison. Yesterday, Israel attacked the entrance to Tehran prison; in order, as they claim, to free political prisoners. In this attack, young conscripts, families of political prisoners who were there to free them, and employees were killed. French President Emmanuel Macron also protested the attack. He said that this attack killed ordinary Iranians. Of course, Negar, a girl who works for our news agency’s art desk, lost her uncle, who was a soldier, in an attack. I wonder if the DNA test results were given so that they can bury her uncle?
Tehran experienced unprecedented days and nights in 12 days and 13 nights. I did not leave my home and city for three reasons: My love for my homeland, my journalistic responsibility, and my commitment to writing for the AsiaN.
I had said that I had already experienced journalism in different situations; from the World Cup and festivals and world expos, to major fires, earthquakes, plane crashes, revolutions and uprisings, in Iran and other countries. This was my first experience working in a war. I realized three things: I am not a coward, I am completely expert in journalism, and journalism is important to me but more importantly, humanity.
Whenever a humanitarian situation arose, journalism became a second priority. Journalism is a tool for humanity. And one of the issues that journalism should pay attention to is racism.
