Families grapple with life in the wake of the Israel-Iran Conflict

In Iran’s capital, Mehdi Ferdowsi surveys what used to be his home — now a heap of shattered concrete and twisted metal. A nearby Israeli strike, delivered just as a fragile ceasefire was taking hold, leveled the walls and blew out the windows, leaving nothing behind.

“They hit the buildings. Only rubble is left. Nothing else is left,” Ferdowsi said. “This used to be our home, now it's a pile of dust.”

His family is among hundreds in Tehran who are trying to piece their lives back together after 12 days of intense conflict between Iran and Israel. According to Iranian officials, more than 500 homes were damaged in the capital alone — 120 of them completely destroyed.

The strike came early Tuesday morning, hours after both sides had agreed to a truce. But as missiles and drones continued to land despite the ceasefire, each government blamed the other for the renewed violence. It wasn’t until late Tuesday that the skies finally fell quiet.

While the ceasefire appears to be holding for now, many in Tehran remain skeptical.

“What’s the point of a ceasefire if it’s going to be violated?” asked Masoumeh, a local resident who declined to give her last name. “They were just looking for a pretext to show their force. That’s all it was. I don’t think they gained anything. They just wanted to ruin a bunch of buildings.”

She added: “Iran doesn’t lack weapons. If it had wanted to strike harder, it could have. But it didn’t want the people to suffer more.”

Tehran’s government says 606 Iranians were killed and more than 5,000 wounded in the 12 days of fighting. But U.S.-based rights group WarTrack puts the death toll above 1,000, attributing the majority of the casualties to Israeli airstrikes on urban areas.

Both sides have claimed military success, but the cost to civilians is becoming clearer by the day.

As families dig through the ruins, many say their focus now is not politics or blame — it’s survival.

“We have no home,” Ferdowsi said. “No work. No future right now. We’re just trying to stay together.”