For now, there is no major exodus of refugees from Iran. Many say they are only leaving temporarily. A few say they are leaving for routine vacations and business travel. Heightened restrictions by the government have also prevented some from leaving, according to ordinary Iranians and travel warnings from the U.S. and Canadian governments, which are reminding their citizens that Iran prevents dual nationals from leaving unless they are using their Iranian passports.
Between March 4 and 18, about 26,600 Iranians crossed into Turkey, similar to or fewer than the usual number crossing the border, according to the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR. Nearly the same number crossed back into Iran, the agency said in a report on the Iran crisis dated March 16. More than 31,000 Iranians crossed into Afghanistan during the same period. The bigger shifts are happening internally -- as many as a million families have been displaced within the country, according to the Iranian government.
Iran's airspace is closed, so for those who want to leave, the country's land borders are the only way in or out of the country for most people. Neighboring Turkey, with its large Iranian community and major global airport in Istanbul, is a key transit point.
In front of the double archway of the Kapikoy border crossing, Iranians come and go, rolling suitcases. Taxis and minibuses zip past, taking the new arrivals to the airport in the nearest city, Van, a two-hour drive away on a highway between snowcapped mountains. In peacetime, the majority Kurdish town is a destination for Iranian tourists who come to relax by a nearby lake.
These days, the tourists are fewer, while many say they are leaving due to the war, unsure when they will return.
The 70-year-old woman heading for France said she took a train to the border after sleeping for several nights in a room with no windows to avoid shattered glass during the bombings. One of her sons living abroad persuaded her to leave to wait out the war. She sat on the sidewalk gazing at the concrete as she waited to be taken to the airport.
The woman said she wasn't afraid when she was still in Tehran, but since she left she has begun to worry more about her country's fate. Asked whether she thought the war would bring change, she said, "I don't know what they are doing in Iran, what will happen to Iran. I hate all of them."
A 50-year-old teacher from Tehran crossed the border on Tuesday morning with her 8-year-old daughter, who she planned to leave with a relative living in Turkey before returning to look after her elderly mother. "The journey was very difficult, the trip was very bad, I always feared a bomb might fall on our heads any minute," she said.
Every Iranian spoke of lives interrupted. Many were Iranian expatriates who had been visiting Tehran when the war broke out and who were only now leaving the country to return to Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Gulf countries.
Before the war, Iran was in the grip of a severe economic crisis brought on by years of U.S.-led economic sanctions and Iranian government mismanagement. A collapsing currency and high inflation last year forced millions of people closer to poverty, with many cutting back on basic foods such as meat and fish.
The economic collapse is what sparked the uprising in December and January that was met with brutal repression by the regime, which killed thousands of people in one of the worst acts of political killing in recent memory anywhere. That was before the bombs began falling.
A man in his 60s who lives in Germany had been visiting relatives in the Iranian capital when the war started. He said he feared its impact would be catastrophic, but wouldn't bring a political change. "The people want the regime to go but it's such a big country, you can't compare it to Lebanon, and even Hezbollah is still there," he said.
Some suggested the strikes might shore up support for Iran's leaders, at least in the short term. "It's not the government that I want, but right now they're the ones with the guns, with the military that can defend us," said another man in his 60s who had come from the city of Karaj in northern Iran.
A student in her 20s from Tehran walked through the crossing with her mixed-breed dog. She planned to stay with relatives in Turkey for a month before going back. "We are all sick because we carry this sadness for our country," she said as she helped the dog into the back of a car that would drive them away.
A handful of people clung to an idea of normality, saying they were crossing into Turkey for vacations planned before the war. Others at the crossing, cut off from their families due to a government-imposed internet blackout, were returning to Iran and heading into the unknown.
A construction worker pulled a suitcase as he headed into the crossing point on his way to Urumiye in western Iran, where his wife and 4-year-old son are living. The man had arrived in Turkey two months earlier to take a job on a construction site in Ankara. He was worried. "There is no internet in Iran at the moment, so I can't reach my family," he said.
Some Iranians said they supported the bombing against what they see as a brutally repressive regime. A man in his 30s working in Turkey as a tour guide said he knows that the U.S. is fighting a war to defend its interests but this presents an opportunity for Iranians. "We have a dictator maltreating people oppressing us but we can't change it on our own," he said.
A whole family from Tabriz crossed the border on Monday afternoon as light snow fell. They brought large suitcases and blankets for a stay with relatives in eastern Turkey. A mother in the group said the bombing campaign had hit Tabriz and the surrounding area. An older man said prices in the markets were going up. "There are no jobs, no money," he said.
Another woman had been visiting family in Tehran when the war started. She was crossing the border en route to Oman, where she lives and owns a beauty salon. At night, the sound of the bombing jolted her sleep, she said.
Asked about the possibility of a change of government in Iran, she said, "The people want it but I am not sure because they are also destroying Iran."