Iran’s southern cities brace themselves as US attacks focus on sites close to the Strait of Hormuz (No. 39)

From the Singapore Straits Times

ISTANBUL – On state television, there is bluster and boasting, the Iranian regime brimming with confidence, and girding for a fight with the US.

“The criminal America has threatened Iran’s nuclear and sensitive centres with an attack,” the Revolutionary Guard’s headquarters declared in a statement on July 21.

“If that country’s invading and terrorist army enters such a stage, we will consider it an expansion of the war in the region, and all US interests, as well as those of its rebellious, wicked accomplices and supporters, will be targeted.”

But on the ground among ordinary Iranians, especially in the country’s south, where many of the US air strikes have been focused, there is a far greater sense of fragility.

In social media posts and in discreet conversations over messaging apps, Iranians voiced fear not only of US attacks, but also the destruction of infrastructure in a region that has long been neglected and marginalised.