A brutal wave of US-Israeli strikes has devastated Iran, killing over 555 people per Red Crescent figures, with the war now on its third day. Iran’s skies have been dark not just from smoke but from a total internet shutdown lasting beyond 48 hours—a tactic Netblocks warns mirrors past efforts to bury human rights scandals under weeks of silence.
US outlets note flickers of connectivity, unlike fully opaque prior blackouts, but the reality on ground is unforgiving. Tehran residents reported morning detonations, while Sanandaj faced what state media called a hail of missiles on homes. Tasnim’s photos captured the grim search for survivors in wreckage, IRNA tallying three dead. Tehran’s northern Gandhi Hospital, pummeled overnight, saw patients rushed out into streets choked with glass and rubble, per IRIB broadcasts.
China mourned one citizen slain in the Tehran melee, with Foreign Ministry’s Mao Ning extending heartfelt sympathies and disclosing the exodus of nearly 3,000 nationals by March 2. Iran’s volleys against US assets abroad persist, yet the toll on its people mounts relentlessly. Isolated by the blackout, Iran’s plight risks fading from view, demanding swift global action to halt the bloodshed.