Bomb and missile attacks on Iran required
residents to desert their homes in Tehran
Parinaz Gandhi
"If you are in Iran and have access to her, tell my mom that I love her and the country she is in right now,” read a social media post dated June 18, 2025 from California based Prof Touraj Daryaee. The day prior when he was able to establish contact with his mother he had asked her whether she would like to leave Tehran due to the unpredictable bombings around her. She had declined stating, "This is my home and it is where I feel safe. I do not want to be stranded in the middle of some road. They can do what they want, this is where I belong.”
This exchange was in the first week of the Israeli strikes on Iran, targeting nuclear and military bases, when civilians in Tehran were ordered to evacuate the city. As per the war log that Daryaee had initiated but had to abandon because Internet connections with the outside world had been severed by the Iranian authorities in the face of widespread devastation, his madar jaan (mother) told him, "I am ok, but bombs were dropped close by… People are in panic, but I went out today to buy food. The baker at Rosha had not made much bread, as flour had not been delivered yet. I have water bottles now, and canned (food) which I do not like, but just in case.”
Top: bombing on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran
Photo: Avash Media, Wikimedia Commons
Residential building in Tehran attacked by a missile
Photo: Mizan News Agency, Wikimedia Commons
Protest in Tehran against Israeli strikes Photo: Avash Media, Wikimedia Commons
From her house help she learnt that a part of Tehran is "like a ghost town. Andarzgoo neighborhood has been bombed badly, as well as a few other places, where apartment buildings are torn to bits. They are planting bombs under cars in the streets and (these are) exploding randomly around, creating more chaos.” Despite the prevailing turmoil she had expressed her resolution "to live and continue, no matter what.”
Within the next couple of days amidst incessant attacks and counterattacks by both the countries came unsubstantiated reports that hiding in bunkers, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has relinquished his powers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. The hostilities escalated when Israel’s biggest ally, the US too attacked Iran’s nuclear sites on June 22 resulting in Iran targeting the US air base in Qatar. There was apprehension that Iran would announce closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical oil checkpoints in the world through which flows 20% of the global consumption, according to the US Energy Information Administration. A US brokered cease fire is said to be in force effective June 24 but reports of violation continue.
Even when communication lines were open until mid June, most Zoroastrians in Iran had chosen not to share any details barring reassuring their families that they were moving out of Tehran to safer territories. Some of them specifically instructed that they should not be contacted by phone or WhatsApp messages fearing that these communication channels were being monitored. Among those who dared to describe the scenario, one wrote, "I truly hope no one ever has to experience anything like this. We were hoping civilians would remain unaffected. But at 2 a.m. this morning, Israel and (US President Donald) Trump announced an evacuation order for Tehran. The roads have been blocked for several days. There is no petrol. Some people have sick relatives and cannot move. One of my brothers managed to leave, but the other had to stay because his wife’s mother is ill and alone in Tehran. We are terribly worried.
"Three days ago, a missile landed next to the Zoroastrian Mobeds Association. All the windows shattered, and an entire building nearby was destroyed. I keep thinking what would have happened if the missile had hit the Association while the mobeds were inside. It would have been a disaster. It is a strange and terrifying situation. Please keep us in your prayers. Hoping for an end to this nightmare soon.”
To ascertain how Zoroastrians in Iran are coping in the war-torn country, Parsiana reached out to members of the Iranian Zoroastrian Anjuman (IZA) as also Sazeman-e-Jawanan-e-Zartoshty-e-Irani (SJZI) in Bombay, scholar-guides from India who annually accompany Zoroastrian pilgrims plus recent Iranian migrants to the US who had families in Iran.
"Where can (Tehran’s) nine million people go?” rhetorically enquired IZA trustee Gaiv Irani. He further revealed that families were given only10 liters of petrol. "You can’t go far with that. All highways out of the city are jammed. Food rations are also restricted.” Erstwhile vice president of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India Pervez Irani shared the contact numbers of 24 members of IZA to whom Parsiana sent WhatsApp messages. Only four of them responded saying that they no longer have any family members residing in Iran.
Most Zoroastrians living in cities like Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz have currently shifted to Yazd where they continue to retain their ancestral homes, said Darayus Zainabadi, honorary administrator of SJZI. There are more than 20 villages in Yazd such as Zeinabad, Cham, Mobareke where gahanbars used to regularly take place in earlier days, he added. There is an old age home in Yazd as also the Dinyari High School that is only for Zoroastrians. There are around 100 students in this School, 15 of whom are from mobed families.
After the attack in Narmak Photo: Wikipedia
From l: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
Benjamin Netanyahu,
Donald Trump
Image created by Chat GPT
"Friends have been calling us and messaging when they can, just to say that they are frightened, fearful of the unknown but are finding comfort in being together in Yazd. After a 1,000 years Yazd has once again become a place of sanctuary for our people. Despite the matrix of fear among the Iranian people it has forged a different kind of unity for our people and the country,” remarked Zoroastrian Studies founder Khojeste Mistree who has been regularly organizing tours to Iran. "When Israel announced that the installations in the area around the Yazdi village of Mobareke would be the next target, there was much consternation about what should be done to remove the fires to safety. The three villages of Mobareke, Zeinabad and Cham, each with its own fire temple with ever burning fires, would be the most affected if Yazd was bombed. It was later decided not to move the fires,” added Mistree.
He recalled his trip to Iran in April last year when "12 of us went with the idea of capturing in videos and photographs a record of all the religious institutions and fire temples of Yazd and the Zoroastrian historical sites across Iran. Was it prescient? I don’t know, but we covered over 38 fire temples, six large shrines and many kuche or smaller fire shrines in Yazd with grueling urgency in just five days.”
Mistree was informed that when the "Israelis bombed the installations in Yazd the sounds reached every corner of Yazd and some in their homes could feel the vibrations and tremors. Our friend Fareydoon who was driving from Taft to Yazd to be with his father-in-law who was ill in hospital, saw en route plumes of black and yellow smoke rising and fearful of his safety he immediately turned the car back and returned to Taft.”
Chief executive officer of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthrophy and erstwhile trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) Noshir Dadrawala who regularly accompanies Zoroastrian pilgrims to Iran as he had in May 2025 mentioned that his contacts have moved out from Tehran city and are "staying near barren places in the mountain region or the Caspian coast for safety. They are all very guarded in what they say.” Scholar priest Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia who too visits Iran frequently mentioned that he was unable to establish contact with his friend in Iran due to weak internet connectivity. "Previously also it was very sporadic.”
One of the organizers of the SVG Pilgrimage to Iran, Viraf Deboo clarified that his contacts in Tehran have "almost all moved out of the city, to Yazd or to the north of Iran near the Caspian Sea, depending on where they have relatives and/or accommodation. Most of the community members I know are safe and in touch with me on and off. The main fear and anxiety is the random bombing of Tehran city, especially the residential areas. One never knows there, if your neighbor is working for the government or police or nuclear energy department, etc and where the next target is for Israel. (Once) the international internet service was cut off completely by the Government of Iran, they had to depend on local internet/virtual private network, etc, if at all these worked. This adds to the anxiety of relatives and friends who are unable to contact them. Another worry is that many of the shops and restaurants in Tehran have been closed for the last few days, adding to food, medicine and fuel shortages.” The general advisory on safety is applicable to all citizens regardless of their religion.
Whilst our enquiries with Zoroastrian migrants to the US did not elicit any further insights, the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) issued a statement in solidarity and hope, stating: "We think of our Zarathushti brothers and sisters in Iran with heartfelt prayers for their strength and for the safety of all (see ‘A Message of Peace and Prayer,’ facing page).” Beginning June 28, the Zoroastrian Youth of North America has introduced a 24-hour prayer vigil for Zoroastrians in Iran inviting volunteers to sign up for 30-minute slots.
The BPP was expected to release an official statement although chairman Viraf Mehta had indicated to the mid-day of June 23 that if approached for help the Punchayet "may assist financially or provide a roof over their head.”
"Fires we fear”
After his exaggerated claims on MAGA (Make America Great Again), in a post on his Truth Social platform Trump expressed the need for MIGA (Make Iran Great Again). Not convinced by such rhetoric, one Iranian commented on geopolitical analyst Cyrus Janssen’s YouTube channel: "Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation – they’re collapse. A bad government is survivable. No government is not… Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Daryaee, Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies and Culture and the director of the Dr Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the University of California, Irvine. "I am afraid to think that the plan for Iran is to become a ‘Failed State,’ like Syria or Afghanistan or Sudan, and divided into pieces so that it does not pose a threat to other countries anymore. The systematic destruction of its infrastructure is a sign of this, and of course the suggestion by The Jerusalem Post today to divide it. I hope as a historian of the region, that I am 100% wrong.”
In his assessment of the situation, Swedish author and musician Alexander Bard who professes Zoroastrianism wrote in the Medium, "The Islamic Republic is trapped by its own mythology, marching into a war that may hasten its collapse. And when it falls, the Iranian people — not foreign powers, not opposition factions, not nostalgic monarchists — but the people rooted in their own ancient wisdom will rise to rebuild what was lost. Not in the image of the past, but in the light of what must come. From martyrdom to meaning. From despair to dignity. From ideology to wisdom. This is the Ashavan (righteous) path.”
A Message of Peace and Prayer
In these times of uncertainty and conflict, FEZANA appeals for peace, compassion, and respect for human dignity. As Zoroastrians around the world, we are bound not only by a shared faith, but by sacred ties to our ancient motherland — Persia.
Our sacred ties
From the sands of Yazd to the peaks of Takht-e-Soleyman,
from the pillars of Persepolis to the tombs of Naqsh-E-Rostam,
from Pir-e-Sabz to Yazd Atash Behram, the mountains still whisper our prayers.
Persia is our spiritual home —
where the sacred fire first rose,
and the Gathas first resounded...
May our holy sites stand tall,
and our shared heritage burn ever bright.
A living flame
Zarathushti faith still burns in the heart of Iran —
in fire temples tended quietly,
in mountain shrines climbed with devotion,
in every soul who walks the path of Asha.
To our community in Iran:
you are not alone.
Across oceans and continents,
we see you, we honor you, we
stand with you.
A prayer for all
In these uncertain times,
we offer a prayer of peace —
for the safety of all Zarathushtis in Iran,
and for all humanity in the region
who hold on to the promise of a
brighter future.
May wisdom guide the winds,
may compassion steady hearts,
and may our ancient light illuminate a better tomorrow.
Second pilgrimage
Dilnavaz Bhagwagar
This was my second pilgrimage to the land of our forefathers. It was planned and paced by the same worthy organizer, Coover Mehta of SVG, as was my first visit. I was among the 90 tourists on this trip to Iran in May 2025. The first thing that hit us as we landed in Tehran and took to the road, were the number of cars and traffic jams on the roads, on a Friday afternoon. "Everyone getting away for the weekend,” our driver told us. The streets were covered with cars and as many scooters and motor bikes, with nobody wearing a helmet.
One of our first visits was to Cham, a village near Yazd. Cham has a legendary "Flying Fire” burning in an old cypress tree. A family of Zoroastrians live there and look after it. "Over the years we need to add some wood to this fire about once in a fortnight, to keep it burning,” they told us.
Clockwise from top r: jashan in Damavand, Atash Behram in Yazd, astodan at Naqsh-E-Rostam
Not a green leaf was to be seen, as we drove through the desert the next day where mountains came sloping down to plains of black stone or brown mud. Houses over there were built of mud or straw. No bricks or cement because that would need water.
The women in Iran, or at least in Yazd where we were, have their heads covered all the time but nothing like a hijab that covers the whole face. They also have their hands covered till below the elbow and their legs covered to the ankles. We, as everyone else here, walk the streets laughing easily and going about life with warmth and grace. Men and women interact freely and respectfully. Families gather in parks, sharing laughter and food, just like anywhere else, where life feels good and free. Iran seems a happy and content country
A jashan in Damavand was one of the highlights of the Iran tour. The smoke and the sound of the prayers, wafting up to the snow-topped mountain, gave one a feel of being close to heaven. The jashan was followed by lunch, before we returned to our hotel near the Caspian Sea. The Bhika Behram Agiari in Tehran, to our surprise, does not have a consecrated fire.
Next, we proceed to Persepolis, meaning Home of the Persians, on top of a hill. Here, one re-discovers the pomp and splendor of the great Achemenian kings. To reach the top, there is a flight of 111 steps. Many other places in Iran are worth seeing, in terms of their religious connect and their age-old beauty.