Eyewitnesses are reporting a massive wave of airstrikes targeting several areas of Karaj, west of Tehran, amid state media reports of explosions.
Several fighter jets were also spotted in Tehran’s airspace by viewers of Iran International.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state television that several countries, including France, China, and Russia have contacted Iran about a possible ceasefire.
He said the final decision rests with Tehran after what he described as a “blatant aggression” against the country.
He said Iran’s enemies “must pay the price" for killing the country’s supreme leader.
Australia’s home affairs minister said members of Iran’s women’s football team can stay in Australia, adding that the five players who have already sought asylum will receive humanitarian visas.
"Last night I was able to tell five women from the Iranian Women’s Soccer team that they are welcome to stay in Australia, to be safe and have a home here," Tony Burke said on X.
The players were required to wear compulsory hijab during all public appearances while representing the national team.
Why would anyone celebrate bombs falling on their own country? The question were widely asked after videos emerged showing some Iranians cheering strikes on regime targets.
But trauma specialists say those reactions reflect something deeper: decades of repression that have fundamentally shaped how many Iranians perceive danger. For many inside the country, the regime itself—not the bombs—has long been the most immediate threat to their lives.
The discussion gained attention after a viral Instagram reel by Iranian-origin actor and producer Tara Grammy. In the video, Grammy recounts a conversation a friend in Iran said they had with their therapist—a moment that appeared to capture what many Iranians had already been expressing online.
According to Grammy, her friend admitted they found themselves celebrating the sound of bombs hitting Tehran—something that surprised even them. The therapist’s explanation, she said, was psychological.
“When your entire life you have lived under the constant threat of the Islamic Republic—arrests, prison, executions, morality police, surveillance, people disappearing after exercising their right to protest—your brain learns to fear the thing that actually controls your life,” Grammy said in the video.
“Psychologists call this threat normalization.”
The concept describes how people living under long-term repression can come to see the greatest danger not as an external threat such as war, but the authority that controls their daily lives.
To better understand the reaction, Iran International spoke with two therapists who work with Iranians affected by political repression and trauma.
Clinical psychotherapist Azadeh Afsahi, founder of Iran House and an NGO in contact with political prisoners inside Iran, said many reactions seen online cannot be understood without recognizing the depth of suffering many Iranians have endured.
“I think what we need to look at is the big picture: why is it that a nation is celebrating what the whole world fears—bombs?” Afsahi said.
“For them, the bomb can feel like a form of liberation, as sad as that sounds. For 47 years they have lived under oppression without meaningful help.”
Afsahi said many Iranians understand the risks and potential loss of life associated with conflict. But for some, the possibility that the Islamic Republic could finally fall outweighs those fears.
According to Afsahi, many messages she has received from inside Iran reflect a mix of fear, anxiety and renewed hope. After recent crackdowns and mass killings during protests, she said many Iranians had fallen into what she described as a “collective depression.”
“Right now, despite their houses being bombed and loved ones being killed, there is still an element of hope,” she said. “Because the pain is being seen internationally, and somebody is intervening.”
Another trauma counselor, Farnaz Farrokhi-Holmes, said decades of repression have left many Iranians living with complex trauma—a condition caused by prolonged exposure to violence and fear.
“When trauma happens repeatedly, the brain begins to normalize the threats around it,” she explained.
Over time, she said, the brain adapts to survive in an environment of constant danger.
“The bombs are no longer perceived as the primary threat. The imminent threat is the IRGC—its survival and its continued power.”
Farrokhi-Holmes said she is currently providing pro bono counseling to a young Iranian woman who survived the January 2026 protest crackdowns and later escaped the country after witnessing security forces shoot demonstrators.
The trauma many Iranians carry, she said, is difficult for outsiders to fully grasp. Unless someone has lived under a system where arrests, violence and executions can happen without warning, the psychological response may be hard to understand.
Both therapists emphasized that reactions inside Iran remain complex. Many people are afraid. Many are grieving. But some, they say, also feel something absent for years: hope.
As Afsahi put it, many Iranians are not celebrating war itself but the possibility that decades of repression could finally end.
“They’re not happy about the war,” she said. “They are happy about the possibility of liberation.”
President Donald Trump said the war with Iran could be nearing its conclusion, telling CBS News in a phone interview that the conflict is pretty much complete.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force,” Trump said, adding that the United States is “very far” ahead of his initial timeline of four to five weeks.
Asked about Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whom he has previously criticized, Trump said, “I have no message for him. None, whatsoever.” He added that he has someone in mind to replace Khamenei but did not provide further details.
Trump also commented on the Strait of Hormuz, saying ships are currently moving through the waterway but that he is “thinking about taking it over.”
He warned Tehran against further escalation, saying, “They’ve shot everything they have to shoot, and they better not try anything cute or it’s going to be the end of that country.”
The Israeli military said on Monday it carried out a new wave of airstrikes targeting what it called Iranian military infrastructure in Tehran, Isfahan and the Shiraz area.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said dozens of fighter jets launched the operation using more than 170 munitions against command centers, missile production facilities and other military sites linked to Iran’s government and the Revolutionary Guards.
According to the IDF, one of the targets in Tehran was a command center belonging to the IRGC’s Quds Force, which it said is responsible for coordinating Iran’s regional proxy groups and supporting militant operations across the Middle East.
The military also said it struck a site in Isfahan used to manufacture and store missiles designed to target Israeli aircraft, along with several Iranian air defense systems.
Additional military infrastructure was also hit in the Shiraz area, the statement said. Israel said the strikes were part of an ongoing campaign aimed at damaging key components of Iran’s military capabilities.