'I haven't slept for days': Iranians describe mounting desperation after a month of war

She called out to her workmates: "I think it's a bomb. " They left their desks and climbed the stairs to the roof of the building.

"After that, everyone working in the company panicked.

People were shouting and screaming and running away. For one to two hours the situation stayed like that complete chaos. " That same day her boss shut the business and laid off his staff. Despite strict state censorship, the BBC has been able to use trusted sources on the ground to obtain testimony from a range of Iranians in different parts of the country.

We cannot give Setareh's real name or say what kind of work she does - no detail that might possibly identify her to the regime's secret police.

But we can say that she is a young woman from Tehran who loved going to work, where she could meet her friends, share stories of their lives and, of course, there was the guarantee of weekly wages.

"I can honestly say I haven't slept for several nights and days in a row.

I try to relax by taking very strong painkillers so I can sleep. The anxiety is so intense that it has affected my body. When I think about the future and imagine those conditions, I truly don't know what to do. " By "those conditions" she means economic hardship and her fear of future street fighting between the regime and its enemies.

The war has cost Setareh her job and she is running out of money.

Millions of Iranians are in a similar position.

Even before the war, the economy was in deep crisis, with food prices rising by 60% in the previous year.

Setareh describes mounting desperation as people run out of resources to survive.

"We cannot afford even basic food.

What's in our pockets does not match market prices. Iran has also been under sanctions for years, and the problems created by the Islamic Republic means that during this time we couldn't build any savings, at least enough to survive now or depend on something. To put it simply, the people I thought might have money to lend also don't have anything. "

"I don't know how this massive wave of unemployment will be handled.

There is no support system and the government will do nothing for all these unemployed people. I believe the real war will start if this war ends without any outcome. "

The outcome she wants is the end of the regime.

We received information from sources on the ground in six different cities.

These were conversations with individuals from a cross-section of society - shopkeepers, taxi drivers, public sector workers and others.

All described growing economic pressure and most spoke of their hope that the war might bring about the fall of the government.

"The most important issue is that this war must not reach hospitals.

If the conflict continues and infrastructure is targeted and medicines cannot be imported, then we will face very serious problems. "

She is haunted by the images of war that she's witnessed in recent weeks.

In the aftermath of bombings, bodies arrived at the hospital "that were not recognisable.

some had no hands, some had no legs - it was horrifying".

"Because of bombardment in her area - her home was close to a military centre - their house was damaged.

When they brought her to the hospital, neither the mother nor the foetus was alive. She had been just two months away from giving birth but sadly neither she nor her baby survived. It was a very terrible situation. "

It is an image made more poignant by stories from Tina's childhood.

Her mother was pregnant with her during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and told her of having to flee to bomb shelters as Iraqi missiles struck their city.

Nearly a million people - Iranians and Iraqis, military and civilian - are estimated to have died in the conflict, with Iran suffering the greatest number of casualties.

"Hearing those stories always made me stop and think, to imagine myself in those circumstances and place myself in her situation. Now, I find myself in the same kind of situation my mother once faced. I cannot believe how quickly history repeats itself. "

Any public show of dissent in Iran is extremely dangerous.

The regime has deployed its internal security forces and loyal supporters to patrol the streets.

There are arrests, torture and executions.

Iranians have no doubt about the danger they face if they speak out.

He keeps a supply of antibiotics and painkillers in his flat in case there is renewed street violence.

He is still in hiding after being shot during the last protests.

Holding up an X-ray of his torso, Behnam shows the metal fragments that remain lodged in his body. "Once you see how easily your life can be threatened - that a simple incident or a twist of fate can mean death or survival - after that, your life no longer holds the same value for you. And that experience makes you care less about yourself. " "I will not heal until the day we are free and in a free world [can] look back on the suffering we endured in an unfree world, and in the end laugh at it. I am certain that day will come. " One month into the war, with US President Donald Trump threatening to bomb Iran "back to the stone ages" and regime repression tightening, the time of laughter seems very far away