CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Qom is considered a holy city, home to Iran\u2019s largest and most famous Shia seminary. Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei studied at the Qom Seminary, as did several of Iran\u2019s former presidents. <\/p>\n
Similarly, people living in a village some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Natanz facility said they heard nothing overnight. <\/p>\n
In Tehran, far from the targeted nuclear sites, many were calling for Iran to respond with force. Fars released a compilation of short interviews with people on the streets of the capital Sunday. <\/p>\n
Each of the eight people featured urged a retaliation \u2013 with most saying Iran should strike US bases in the region and close down the Strait of Hormuz on Iran\u2019s southern shore, through which a third of global seaborne oil trade passes. <\/p>\n
In Iran, signs of dissent tend to be quickly quashed, making it dangerous for people to express disagreement with the regime. <\/p>\n
But Mohsen Milani, an Iranian scholar who has lived in the US for decades, said the US attack on Iran could spark more genuine support for the regime. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt could ignite a new wave of nationalism, damage the future of U.S.-Iran relations more than the 1953 coup, accelerate Tehran\u2019s pivot to Russia and China, and fundamentally reshape Iran\u2019s defense, deterrence, and nuclear posture,\u201d he said in a post on X. <\/p>\n
Some of this sentiment was already on show in Tehran on Sunday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will stay here and I will sacrifice my life and my blood for my country,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Everywhere around her, people were protesting the US, many holding anti-Trump signs and posters. Some of the posters ended up on the ground, where people stamped on them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were living our normal lives and they attacked us. If someone strikes the United States, would they not answer? Of course they would,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Another person living in Tehran said they believed the regime was greatly weakened by the US strikes \u2013 because its opponents would now be able to call its bluff. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe claims that the Iranian regime has always made \u2013 that it will attack all American bases and close the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 they made all these claims and the whole world saw that (the US) came and easily hit the Fordow and Natanz sites \u2026 but Iran was completely silent and no fighter planes took off and (it) used no defenses or missiles,\u201d the person said, adding that if there is no response in the coming days, the regime\u2019s supporters could abandon it. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo sane person will stand by someone who is in a weak position, not even their own supporters,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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