Insider says Iranians "very united"
Unity and spot are the authoritative lines coming from Iran's theocratic authorities successful the look of President Trump's request for "unconditional surrender" and the possibility that helium could order the U.S. subject to articulation Israel's attacks connected the Islamic Republic's atomic facilities.
Israel's daily, astir weeklong bombardment of Iran's atomic and rocket sites, and its assassinations of apical commanders and elder scientists, person compounded the dilemma for Iran's leaders — particularly arsenic they look the imaginable of interior unrest from a colonisation nether attack.
At slightest 639 Iranians person been killed and much than 1,300 wounded implicit the past six days, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists successful Iran organization, which relies connected a web of contacts successful the country. Tens of thousands of Tehran's astir 10 cardinal residents person present fled the capital, and different cities person besides emptied retired to immoderate degree, with galore radical seeking safer spaces successful the countryside.
But Iran's ruling Muslim clerics and their adherents don't speech astir an exodus. Instead, they task solidarity, and adjacent mock President Trump and his ultimatums.
"I conscionable laughter astatine however negligent helium is," Hamidreza Gholamzadeh, manager of the Iranian deliberation vessel Diplo House, told CBS News successful a distant interrogation from Tehran connected Thursday. "He does not cognize thing astir Iranians, either successful history, oregon the characteristics of the Iranian nation."
"Even Iranian dissident figures are present pro-Iran," helium claimed, "because they cognize it is astir [maintaining] the integrity of Iran, the full being of Iran."
An Iranian Red Crescent ambulance deed successful an Israeli onslaught connected June 16, 2025, successful Iran's West Azerbaijan province, is displayed successful Haft-e Tir Square successful Tehran, Iran, June 19, 2025.
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu/Getty
But aft a week of bruising attacks by Israel, and with the threat of much to come and adjacent imaginable nonstop U.S. involution looming connected the horizon, the optimism and bluster whitethorn beryllium getting harder to maintain.
"Let's say, the powerfulness of Iran successful the portion has been weakened. It's not thing that you tin deny," acknowledged Gholamzadeh. "But the authorities itself has not been weakened astatine all. The Iranians are precise agreed close now. The societal cohesion is precise beardown close now."
At most, Gholamzadeh claimed 20% of each Iranians would beryllium blessed to spot their authorities fall.
"There mightiness beryllium 10% to 15% who are against the state, but not each of them would beryllium participating successful immoderate activities" against the regime, helium said, suggesting lone 5% of Iranians would really travel retired onto the streets "to actively participate."
But caller surveys conducted earlier the existent war, by autarkic organizations based extracurricular Iran, recovered rather the opposite.
In 2023, pursuing wide anti-government protests sparked the erstwhile twelvemonth by the decease of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini successful spiritual constabulary custody, a survey by the Netherlands-based Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes successful Iran recovered that 81% of the country's residents were against the cleric-led Iranian regime.
The 2022 anti-government protests were quashed, brutally, and thing similar them has been seen successful Iran since. Censorship is rife, and Iran's authorities has importantly curbed net entree implicit the past week, citing cyberthreats.
Gholamzadeh repeated warnings issued by Iran's leaders, against the U.S. becoming actively progressive successful the conflict.
"Americans person a batch of subject bases successful antithetic countries present successful the region," helium noted, calling them "very casual targets."
President Trump has warned repeatedly that immoderate Iranian onslaught connected American assets successful the Middle East would beryllium met with a swift response.
Ramy Inocencio is simply a CBS News overseas analogous based successful London, covering Europe and the Middle East. He joined the Network successful 2019 arsenic CBS News' Asia correspondent, based successful Beijing and reporting crossed the Asia-Pacific, bringing 2 decades of acquisition moving and traveling betwixt Asia and the United States.
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