Tehran, No Longer an Island Iran’s capital was hit by an unprecedented terror attack on June 7, with gunmen and suicide bombers targeting two pillars of the country’s ruling system—the parliament building and the shrine to the Islamic Republic’s founding figure, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Islamic State took responsibility—their first successful attack inside the Persian Gulf country. Seventeen people were killed. Scroll

In the days following the attack Iranian-Canadian photographer Kiana Hayeri described a feeling of concern that this marks a new chapter for the country. “Despite its problems, Iran has always felt like a "safe island", untouched by the violence that has impacted most of the neighboring countries, but now everyone's shaken and afraid that the island is on the verge of sinking and this is the start of many attacks to come.”



She documents the funerals and the feeling on the streets of Tehran in the days following the attacks.

Thousands of people thronged the streets for a funeral procession and rally for the victims two days after the attack.

Tehran was always insulated from the kind of security problems that affected many of its neighbors. “Our lives had a form, like a frame that holds a door. The attack damaged that frame that was holding my life together,” said Vida, a 31-years old graphic designer.

Most people in Iran found out about the attacks via friends or social and international media, but reports were sketchy in the early hours. Little information was available on Iran’s largely state-controlled news outlets—as local officials grappled with what was unfolding. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, initially referred to the attacks as mere "fireworks." A day later, however, news about the terrorist attack was widely reported by local media. In the TV shops on Jomhouri Street, the word “terror” remained on the top right corner of screens, while updates on the attack aired on a state-run channel.

"I was shocked as an incident like this hadn't happened in the past. I followed the news on social media all day, but to be honest, seeing what has happened in Europe and England in the past few months, this attack hasn't scared me," said 26-year-old Abolfazl, with some bravado.

Inside the Imamzadeh Yahya Shrine eight-year-old Nazanin poses for pictures . Her family fled Afghanistan after her mother survived a suicide attack in Kabul targeting a Shia mosque. Now sitting less than a mile from the site of the Parliament attack, her mother, Khanom Gol, wonders: "There is no safe place—where am I supposed to take my family to live in peace?"

Maryam, a 33-year-old linguistics researcher and university professor, said, “I am a little disappointed, but I am more determined than ever before to make Iran a better place by teaching my child and my students about humanity.”

The shops in Tehran’s famous Grand Bazaar, near Iran’s parliament, were noticeably quiet in the days after the attack.

Zahra, 22 years old, poses for a portrait in Mellat Park. "I avoid crowded and closed spaces now, like I took a Snapp [a local version of Uber] today instead of using the Metro and BRT buses. The sad thing about this attack, aside from taking the lives of 17 people, is that some people use it as an excuse to attack the new government."

"The terror they caused is horrifying but people of Iran are united," said Behzad, 33, a history researcher and university professor. “This one attack doesn't impact how I feel, however if it repeats again and again, then I will be disappointed.”