Woman from Iran describes fear for loved ones: “Sense of terror”

An Iranian woman who now lives in the U.S. told CBS News that she feared for the safety of her family members in Iran when President Trump threatened in April that “a whole civilization will die tonight” as Washington sought to make a deal with Tehran.

“They were scared too,” Setareh, who didn’t want to be identified by her last name, told CBS News’ Lindsey Reiser as the war with Iran entered its fourth month. “They didn’t know what was going to happen. We don’t know. We don’t know if he’s actually going to do it, so they could’ve died at any moment. So they were like sitting in terror and fear.”

Setareh was born and raised in Iran and moved to the U.S. later in life.

Mr. Trump’s threat on social media in early April came during a tense moment in the war before the U.S. and Iran struck a ceasefire agreement that has been tested several times. Over the weekend, the U.S. military conducted what it described as “self-defense strikes” on Iranian radar and drone sites after Iran allegedly shot down a U.S. drone that was operating over international waters.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Mr. Trump posted hours before he announced the ceasefire agreement. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

Setareh said the threat made her feel a sense of terror take over her body.

“I was scared. I felt like I couldn’t think,” she said. “I felt this sense of terror take over my body. I thought about how, like, my family’s there. I wouldn’t know what would’ve happened to them. Just all these innocent people, the culture, just, they could all just be destroyed. I couldn’t even think. I just was, I felt paralyzed.”