Tehran, Iran – Thousands of Iranians woke up to the sounds of explosions in Tehran during the Israeli offensive in the early hours of Saturday.

“I heard about 10 explosions in relatively quick succession,” said Ali, 32, who lives in western Tehran, with the first explosions heard after 2 a.m. (22:30 GMT on Friday).

Iranians reported on social media that explosions were heard all over the city and some surrounding areas.

By the time the second round of attacks occurred a few hours later, videos were circulating online showing air defenses being activated to counter incoming threats.

“It wasn’t unexpected, but it was still stressful. We were checking the news with our family until the morning and talking to our colleagues on our Telegram channels and investigating the details,” he said.

echoes of war

Life continued mostly as normal in Tehran and other parts of the country on Saturday, the first day of the working week in Iran.

Traffic was normal in different parts of the capital and other affected cities.

However, there were those who were immediately struck by the sense of danger and uncertainty created by the attack on the country, which has not seen an all-out war on its territory since its neighbor Iraq invaded in the 1980s.

“The local market was selling everything 30-40 percent more expensive than a week ago… but I predict things will calm down tomorrow or in the next few days,” said a 65-year-old resident of the northern state. Gilan.

Currency turbulence also poses a challenge, said a computer salesman at a store in downtown Tehran.

“The situation is difficult, bad for our business, with constant exchange rate flow and price changes for more than a month. I really hope that we can avoid a war for the sake of everyone, especially in this economy,” he told Al Jazeera.

While the Iranian rial has remained relatively stable since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, it has become unstable as concerns of an all-out regional war grow.

Recently, it fell from $600,000 a month ago to as low as 690,000 earlier this week, before regaining ground lost in the wake of the Israeli attack, reaching around 660,000.

With the central bank pumping in foreign currency to tame the market, state-run media expressed hope on Saturday that the rial could strengthen to within last month’s range.

The value of gold coins also fell nearly 5 percent during Saturday’s trading, leaving Iran’s stock market mostly a sea of ​​green following the end of Israeli attacks; This seemed more tame than Israeli leaders had initially threatened.

‘Limited damage’

After weeks of speculation that Israel might target Iran’s energy infrastructure, officials said there had been no attacks on major refineries, power plants, natural gas pipelines or sensitive nuclear sites.

So far, there have been no direct or immediate threats of retaliation from Iranian officials.

The Israeli strike was expected to be in retaliation for Iran firing nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, but its scope remains unclear.

Iran said the strikes targeted military facilities in Tehran and the western provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan, saying its air defenses were working well and that it inflicted “limited damage”.

According to the statement made by the Iranian armed forces, 2 soldiers lost their lives in the attack.

The same day, 10 Iranian border guards were killed in an armed attack on a police convoy in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan.

The armed separatist group Jaish al-Adl, which Tehran regards as a “terrorist” group with links to Israel, claimed responsibility.