Iran is taking steps to prevent anti-establishment protests, with checkpoints appearing across the streets of the capital, internet access restricted, and mass text warnings sent to residents.
In Tehran, people have been telling the BBC about new security checkpoints around the city, where they say residents are stopped and searched.
They have told BBC Persian that some checkpoints are positioned under footbridges and inside road tunnels, after reports that several checkpoints in the middle of roads had been targeted by drone strikes.
A number of Iranian security personnel were killed in Israeli strikes on four checkpoints across Tehran, the hardline Fars News Agency reported on 11 March.
Fars said unofficial counts indicated that around 10 members of the security forces were killed in strikes in four districts of the capital.
Speaking to the BBC, a man in his twenties explained his strategy for getting through a checkpoint, where he said he was once stopped and his car was searched.
I started saying things like, 'Thanks for your hard work,' as if they were genuinely putting in a lot of effort and I appreciated it, he said. Security forces let him go after the search.
Another man, also in his twenties, sells secure internet connections to some people, allowing them to bypass the government-imposed nationwide blackout. It is still very difficult to contact those inside Iran during the internet outage that has been in place since the start of the war, but tech-savvy residents have been using SpaceX's Starlink devices and sharing their connection with others.
Restricting internet access not only restricts communication with the outside world but also limits protesters' ability to mobilise, plan and communicate among each other. When these platforms are unavailable, coordination becomes far more difficult.
Iranian police have arrested a person in southern Fars Province over allegedly setting up a network to sell unfiltered internet via Starlink, according to a report by semi-official Mehr News Agency on 12 March.
Since the conflict began on 28 February, the authorities have organised pro‑establishment rallies and urged supporters to take to the streets to prevent what they describe as attempts to destabilise the country from within.
So far, there have been no signs of the mass anti-establishment protests similar to those seen in January. The government has warned against upcoming protests through official text messages, characterizing any such actions as attempts by the evil enemy to incite chaos.
