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As Iranian cities come under increasing fire in a growing regional conflict, a stark and tragic reality is exposed: the clerical dictatorship has armored its nuclear infrastructure deep within mountains but left its citizens defenseless above ground. The contrast is brutal—while nuclear equipment is shielded by meters of reinforced rock, ordinary people are told to take cover in schools, mosques, or metro stations, often with no assurance of safety, preparation, or even space.
This is not simply a logistical failure—it is a political choice, a systemic reflection of a regime that has consistently placed the survival of its own power structure above the security and welfare of its people.
In a moment of national crisis, Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokesperson for the regime’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, described schools and mosques as “shelters” for the public. But these words sparked widespread outrage. These same locations, in the eyes of many Iranians, are known not for safety but for repression—used by the regime as bases for the Basij militia or as centers of ideological indoctrination. To call them havens is not just out of touch—it is emblematic of a regime whose worldview sees the people not as citizens to be protected, but as a threat to be controlled.
Escalation Continues on Fourth Day of Israel-#Iran War as Casualties Mounthttps://t.co/abok6yUJAk
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 16, 2025
Even regime insiders have been forced to admit the absence of civil defense infrastructure. In June 2025, Tehran city council head Mehdi Chamran acknowledged that Iran’s cities lack air raid shelters—despite decades of regional conflict and firsthand experience during the Iran-Iraq war.
But the issue runs deeper than neglect. The clerical establishment has actively invested in underground facilities—not for public safety, but for military use. According to Iranian and international reports, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has spent years constructing extensive tunnel systems in Syria and Lebanon, designed for moving arms and forces for regional proxy wars. Inside Iran, so-called “missile cities” are built into the mountains to safeguard weapons, not people. The price tag for these hidden complexes runs into billions of dollars.
This is money not spent on building bomb shelters in Tehran, Isfahan, or Mashhad. It is not spent on reinforcing hospitals, schools, or apartment buildings. And now, under aerial bombardment, the results are tragically visible.
Iran’s regime tells people to take shelter in schools and mosques as bombings continue https://t.co/DJNJcmKUBa
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 16, 2025
At the same time, the regime continues its secretive nuclear pursuits. On June 14, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, reassured state media that key equipment had already been moved to secure locations. “There was no widespread damage,” he said—referring not to civilian areas, but to uranium enrichment facilities.
This reveals the regime’s hierarchy of concern: weapons first, people last.
And yet, the Iranian people are not silent. As seen in countless protests, uprisings, and resistance campaigns in recent years, they have repeatedly demanded a government that represents them, not endangers them. The current crisis only adds to the growing public awareness that the clerical regime is not a shield—but a threat. Whether in peace or in war, its priorities are clear: protect the system, not the society.
#Iran News: Kermanshah Prison Massacre—At Least 10 Killed, over 30 Wounded in Armed Crackdown Following Airstrike Panichttps://t.co/MQhDzzjquu
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 16, 2025
It is not a coincidence that Iran lacks civilian shelters. It is the inevitable result of a regime that has spent more than $2 trillion—nearly all of Iran’s oil income over the past 46 years—on a clandestine nuclear program, ballistic missile systems, and proxy militias that have only brought ruin to the region.
The irony is brutal: these same investments, meant to ensure regime survival, have instead brought war to its doorstep and added to the suffering of an already embattled people. Now, with Iran’s infrastructure in decay and public services in collapse, the conditions are ripening not for regime consolidation—but for an unprecedented nationwide uprising capable of ending this terrorist theocracy and opening a path toward peace and stability in the Middle East.