As we walk through the heart of Iran’s capital we see a large digital clock nestled among several shops It’s counting down to what it claims, is the time left until the state of Israel is destroyed
The clock overlooks Palestine Square in Tehran as cars and vendors come and go in a country that is in conflict internationally and at home
Netanyahu in a straitjacket
Across the square is a billboard, several stories high, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a straitjacket In Hebrew and in Farsi the billboard declares Netanyahu is “clinically insane”
It’s posturing and propaganda but this is a country on the brink of war
restricted access
Access to Iran is restricted for foreign media But in June 2024 Iran held a presidential election and ABC Australia’s Four Corners was allowed into Tehran for one week
We were accompanied by a government “minder” and were not free to travel or to see people and places that had not been approved
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
One event we were allowed to film was the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, voting in the election. We stood among jostling local journalists watching as the 85-year-old shuffled across a large room to place a ballot in a box
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Khamenei’s not just the most powerful man in Iran but one of the most influential spiritual and political leaders in the Shia Muslim world
The snap-election was held after the man Ayatollah Khamenei had wanted to succeed him, president Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash in May 2024 this year
This is the image the regime wants the world to see We didn’t have to stray too far from our planned tour to get a sense of its control
reform candidate Pezeshkian
At a rally for the now-President Masoud Pezeshkian, we watched as a gathered crowd were told the reform candidate’s rally was cancelled
Police tried to clear the supporters who had gathered. One person in the crowd told Four Corners it was an attempt to censor candidates in the closing days of the election
Soon, uniformed and undercover police surrounded our crew, demanding we turn off our camera
The police attempted to wrestle the camera from us. We were questioned and ordered to delete the footage. After half an hour, we were released, footage intact
The brink of war
The Middle East is teetering on the precipice of a regional war
In October 2023 Hamas broke through the southern Israel border and killed 1,195 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities
Since then, Israel has been exchanging fire with Iran and its proxies – Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Shia militias in Syria and Iraq
Tensions ratcheted up further in the past 48 hours, when Israel bombarded multiple targets in Lebanon and Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets — the most intense cross-border attacks in months
In July 2024 political chief of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s lead negotiator, was assassinated while in Tehran. Israel has not taken responsibility for the killing but has been accused of orchestrating it
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Netanyahu said afterwards that Israel had dealt Hamas and other Iranian-backed groups “a crushing blow”
Experts say Iran’s regime is now feeling the pressure to respond But the regime is not just dealing with external pressures
full Four Corners investigation The Big War available on ABC iview
