Pakistanis fleeing Iran describe strikes shaking ground under their feet

Pakistanis fleeing Iran described explosions and missile strikes across Tehran shaking the ground under their feet and engulfing buildings in fire and smoke in a city emptied of many of its residents.

The US-Israel war on Iran has widened sharply, with a US submarine sinking an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on Wednesday and Nato air defences destroying an Iranian missile fired towards Turkiye.

Governments have been scrambling to evacuate stranded citizens, with most of the region’s airspace closed due to the risk of missiles hitting passenger planes.

“I was in the classroom when a powerful explosion rocked our university building,” Hareem Zahra, 23, a student at the Tehran University of Engineering, told Reuters after crossing Pakistan’s land border with Iran.

“We saw thick smoke coming from many buildings on fire,” she said, adding Tehran was under attack until the moment she left.

Tehran looked deserted

Nearly 1,000 students, businessmen and pilgrims have fled Iran since the war started out of a total 35,000 Pakistanis in the country, Mudassir Tipu, Pakistan’s ambassador to Tehran, said.

“There are now serious challenges. As you know there is no internet in most parts of Iran,” he said.

Iran has retaliated with a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and Washington’s allies in the Gulf, including Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, following US and Israeli air strikes that martyred Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

Tehran has looked deserted since the conflict began, said Nadir Abbas, 25, a student of Persian literature at a university in the Iranian capital.

‘Destruction everywhere’

“The first attack happened right next to my hospital,” said Sakhi Aun Mohammad, a student at Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

After he reached the border, an Iranian friend called to check if he was safe, saying: “‘Thank God, you have gone to Pakistan, all of you are safe, but your hostel has been attacked'”.

A Pakistani diplomat who is still in Tehran said attacks took place every four or five hours, adding one missile struck a building next to his office.

“At times you will feel as if something exploded right at your feet,” he said.

“The last time I got out was at night. Buildings had collapsed, some others were on fire. There is destruction everywhere.”

He added: “It is almost like a ghost town.”