IR26 · Safety

War Safety Guide

Short, practical advice for people in Iran. Save or print it now: once the internet is cut it may be hard to open.

Updated 10 October 2026

Six rules that save lives

Pick your shelter spot today: an inner room, corridor or basement with at least two walls between you and the street.
Stay away from windows: flying glass is the most common cause of injury in urban explosions.
Never go up to the roof or balcony to watch air-defence fire — falling fragments kill.
Keep your distance from IRGC, Basij, police and military sites — they are the targets, often in the middle of residential areas.
Keep a go-bag by the door and agree a family meeting point in case phones and the internet go down.
Don't film strikes, military sites or their aftermath: it can get you arrested and give away your location.

Emergency numbers in Iran

Prepare now

Agree on two meeting points with your family — one near home, one outside your neighbourhood — and one contact person in another city whom everyone calls.
Write the key phone numbers on paper. Phones die and networks fail.
Pack a go-bag for each person: water, food for three days, medicines with prescriptions, copies of documents in a waterproof bag, cash in small notes, a power bank and cable, a torch, a battery radio, a first-aid kit, warm clothes, sturdy shoes, a dust mask and a whistle.
Store water: about 4 litres per person per day for drinking and hygiene — at least three days' worth, two weeks if you can.
Get at least two weeks of any regular medication. Pharmacies empty first.
Learn how to shut off the gas, the water and the main power switch at home, and keep a fire extinguisher.
Download offline maps (e.g. Organic Maps), save this guide as a PDF, and install a messenger that works without the internet (Briar, Android).
Keep the car tank at least half full and some cash at home — in a blackout cards and ATMs may stop working.
Plan for children, elderly and disabled relatives and pets: who helps them, and what they need (nappies, formula, glasses, hearing aids).

Where to take shelter

Best: a purpose-built shelter, a basement, an underground car park or a metro station.
No basement? Use an inner corridor, bathroom or stairwell on a lower floor. Rule of two walls: the first wall takes the blast and fragments, the second stops the debris.
Avoid rooms with large windows, top floors, balconies, lifts (the power may fail) and glass-fronted ground floors.
Live near an IRGC or Basij base, a police station, a prison, an airport, a port or a missile site? During an escalation consider staying with relatives further away. The MahsaAlert map shows known sites.
Regime forces or armoured vehicles stationed in a school, mosque or other building near you make it a military site: keep children away and don't shelter next to it.
Stock your shelter corner in advance: water, a torch, a power bank, a first-aid kit, a blanket, a radio and shoes.

During an attack

Hear explosions or air-defence fire? Go to your shelter spot at once. Don't go to the window to look.
Outdoors: get into the nearest solid building or underpass. If there is nowhere to go, lie flat on the ground — in a dip if possible — and protect your head with your hands.
In a car: pull over away from buildings, get out and take cover or lie on the ground. If you can't get out, duck below the windows.
Indoors without a shelter: lie on the floor against an inner wall or under a sturdy table, away from windows and glass doors.
After the last explosion wait at least 10 minutes before going out: air-defence fragments keep falling and strikes are sometimes repeated.

Windows and your home

The most effective protection is safety (anti-shatter) film over the whole pane — it holds the glass together.
Tape stuck on in an X does not stop the pane from breaking; at most it slightly limits how far the shards fly. Better than nothing, but don't rely on it.
Close heavy curtains or blinds — they catch some of the fragments.
Move beds, cots and sofas away from windows. Don't sleep under a window.
In your shelter room you can cover the window from the inside with a wardrobe, a mattress or a board.

After a strike

Check yourself and others. For the injured call 115 (ambulance) or 112 (Red Crescent); for a fire, 125.
Unless you are a rescuer, don't go to the strike site to help or film: buildings collapse, fires spread and strikes are sometimes repeated.
Smell gas? No flames, no light switches. Open the windows, get out, shut the main valve if it is safe, and call 194.
Unexploded munition or missile fragment: don't touch it, move it or photograph it up close. Walk away, warn others and report it.
Damaged building: leave by the stairs, not the lift, and watch for cracks and hanging debris.
Trapped under rubble: cover your mouth and nose with cloth, tap on a pipe or wall (three knocks), use a whistle. Shout only as a last resort — you inhale dust.
Smoke: stay low, near the floor, and breathe through a damp cloth.

Nuclear or chemical hazard

If a nuclear site is hit or a contamination warning is issued: get inside, stay inside, stay tuned. Go to the middle of the building or the basement, close windows and doors, and turn off ventilation, air conditioning and evaporative coolers.
Were you outside? Take off your outer clothes (this removes most of the contamination), seal them in a bag, shower with soap and wash your hair with shampoo but no conditioner.
Take potassium iodide only when the authorities tell you to. It protects only the thyroid against radioactive iodine and does not help against other contamination.
The gravest danger is a strike on the operating reactor at Bushehr. At the enrichment sites (Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan) the hazard is mainly chemical and local — keep away, and stay indoors if smoke drifts your way.
Chemical cloud (after a hit on a refinery or chemical plant): move away across or against the wind, never with it. At home, close windows, seal gaps with wet towels and go to a higher floor — many toxic gases are heavier than air (the opposite of air strikes, when you go lower).
Black smoke from burning fuel depots: stay indoors with the windows shut, wear an FFP2/N95 mask outside and keep out of the sooty 'black rain'.

Staying in touch without the internet

When the internet is cut, calls and SMS often still work. Agree in advance on short check-in messages at fixed times ("I'm OK").
Briar (Android) passes messages over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi with no internet. Install it ahead of time — for you and your family.
A battery radio and satellite TV keep working when the internet goes down.
Set up several censorship-circumvention tools in advance (e.g. Psiphon, Tor with Snowflake) — they are hard to download during a shutdown.
Protect yourself: don't post your location or photos of military sites, and think about what is on your phone if you are stopped at a checkpoint.

Children, older people and stress

Tell children simply and calmly what is happening and what you are doing. Keep routines (meals, sleep) and give them a job, like holding the torch.
Practise going to the shelter during the day, like a game — it will be easier at night.
For older and disabled people, decide who helps them move and where their medicines, glasses and hearing aids are.
Panic attack: breathe slowly — in for 4, hold for 4, out for 6 — and name what you can see and hear around you.
Limit doom-scrolling: check trusted sources at set times.
Mental-health crisis or violence at home: call 123 (Social Emergency).

Leaving the city

If your area appears in an evacuation warning (the Israeli army publishes them in Persian with maps; MahsaAlert reposts them), leave immediately — don't wait.
If you are leaving, go early, before the roads jam: fill up, take your go-bag and tell your contact person your route.
Avoid routes past bases, airports, ports and bridges.
The safest option is usually relatives in a smaller town, far from military sites.

Sources

Based on civil-defence and first-aid guidance, adapted to the situation in Iran.

General guidance. It does not replace instructions from rescuers on the scene.