‘Forced to pay for bullets that killed their kids': Iranians in India recount Tehran horror

Hospitals in the Iranian capital, Tehran, are overflowing with corpses, earthmovers clearing bodies from the streets, and families being forced to pay for the bullets that killed their children — this is the picture Iranians living in India say they are receiving from loved ones back home.

Abgine Khaki, a native of Tehran who now lives in a city in southern India, told TOI she had spoken to her parents Tuesday evening. They were safe, they said, but surrounded by the dead. "My father told me hospitals are full of bodies. The administration is using bulldozers to clean the streets. They're not even handing over the dead to families unless they pay — around 500 million Toman ($4,000, Rs 3,60,000)" she said. "Some officials are demanding the price of the bullet, too. What kind of state does that to its own people?"




What began as a wave of protests against the regime has turned, in the words of many Iranians, into something else — fatigue and a battle for survival. Khaki said, "People can't even afford bread and eggs. Our parents' generation regrets not speaking up when they could. Now they are backing us. We want this regime gone. At any cost."

For others, like Bahaar Ghorbani, an Iranian who recently moved to Finland from India, the fear lies in the silence. On Tuesday, when international calls were permitted for a short time, she was able to connect with relatives — but only for 30 seconds. She still doesn't know whether her parents in Tehran are safe. "There's a curfew every day from 3pm until early morning," she said. "The Revolutionary Guard are on the streets, but people still come out. They know they could die, but they come anyway." She added that security forces had stopped using pellet guns. "They are firing live bullets now. They're not sparing anyone — not women, not children."

In New Delhi, a group of Iranians gathered outside their embassy on Wednesday, waving the pre-1979 national flag with the Lion and Sun emblem. It was a small act of defiance, but they called it necessary. "We came here to speak up for our brothers and sisters. We want Indians to know what's happening — and we want their support," said Mohammed, one of the protesters, speaking to TOI over the phone.

The Indian embassy in Iran, meanwhile, issued an advisory on Wednesday urging all Indian nationals — including students and pilgrims — to leave by any available means, including commercial flights. There are currently at least 3,000 Indian students in Iran, of whom around 2,300 are from Kashmir.

Some of their families managed to speak with their children earlier this week. The reports were all the same: they had confined themselves to their hostels and avoided venturing outside. Mohammed Amin Bhat from Srinagar, whose daughter is studying medicine in Shiraz, said, "The advisory has made us more anxious. Flights are expensive, and because of the internet blackout, we can't even send tickets across. We just tell them to stay safe."

Shamiq Parvaiz, also from Srinagar, said his 19-year-old cousin had joined Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Dec. "We don't even know if she's seen the advisory. It was posted on Twitter — but who's even able to access that now? We need the Indian govt to step in and help."