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On Saturday, U.S. and Israeli strikes hit targets across Iran. The attack was a surprise to many, and for journalists trying to understand what is happening, the fog of war is compounded by Iranian censorship and an almost total internet blackout. This made independent verification near impossible even while the snippets of information coming out of the country were increasingly alarming—for instance, one of the first stories to emerge was of an elementary school in Minab that partially collapsed while in session, killing many children.

Nilo Tabrizy is a visual forensics reporter who specializes in open-source investigations on Iran—until recently, she was employed by the Washington Post, but was part of their recent enormous layoffs. Still, she has been tracking the strike from afar, and speaking in brief bursts with sources inside the country. I spoke with her about what we know about this strike, what we don’t, how Iranians are processing this war and the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and why the hardest questions right now may be the ones we can’t yet answer. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Aymann Ismail: How was your weekend?

Nilo Tabrizy: My weekend was—my weekend was awful. I think so many Iranians have been anxiously watching. It’s kind of our worst nightmare come to life: a direct involvement with the U.S. and Iran, with the U.S. and Israel as partners in this case. We saw a bit of a preview of that this summer with the U.S. getting involved with airstrikes. But the U.S.’s involvement was, as they said, just limited to nuclear sites. But this Saturday, among the first things I’m seeing is civilian infrastructure being hit. And it’s just awful. Seeing the images of people carrying loved ones out of rubble—I mean, these are just the scenes that I really hoped we would never see in Iran.

How close does this feel to you personally?

From Saturday onwards, Tehran has been under heavy airstrikes. I was born in Tehran and immigrated to Canada when I was in preschool. I went back once when I was 10 to meet cousins I had been separated from all my life. It’s such an indescribable feeling seeing buildings I’ve been inside reduced to rubble, or roundabouts that are gathering places being hit by airstrikes. Especially as someone who hasn’t been back in a long time—when I see these images, they almost make me hallucinate. It’s........

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