Iranian man recounts losing 12 family members in US-Israeli strike on Tehran home
Hamed Mirzaei tells Al Jazeera he lost his wife and 11 other relatives when missiles destroyed his family's apartment building in Tehran on March 9, 2026.
At a glance
- Hamed Mirzaei says he lost 12 family members, including his wife Mohadeseh, 26, in a March 9, 2026, strike on his Tehran home.
- He says he had left home for work and was five minutes away when missiles struck; he searched the rubble for 20 days.
- Mirzaei says he is the only member of his family left and returns daily to the ruins of the building.
Hamed Mirzaei, an Iranian man, says he lost 12 members of his family, including his 26-year-old wife, Mohadeseh, when missiles struck his residential building in Tehran on March 9, 2026. He shared his account with Al Jazeera.
In the first-person testimony published by Al Jazeera, Mirzaei describes the attack as a United States-Israeli strike on his home. The building had been constructed by his grandfather and his father's uncle, who divided its apartments among their children, he said. A year after his marriage, he and his wife moved into one of those apartments and were preparing to have a child.
Mirzaei said March 9 was a Monday. He left home at about 1pm to check in at work. At about 2:30pm, his wife texted him to ask him to buy headache medicine on his way back. He called to ask which medicine she wanted, but her phone was busy. He also called a guest at their home, whose line was busy too.
He was five minutes from home when he heard a whistling sound and the first missile struck, he said. The ground shook, and calls to his wife and family members went unanswered. He initially thought their home had not been hit. In those same minutes, five more missiles struck the building, he said.
When he arrived, neighbours had come out of their homes. The house had been reduced to its skeleton, and everything was burning, he said. The staircase was gone, and neighbours on the first floor were trapped under rubble. The Red Crescent helped rescue them.
Mirzaei said he returned for 20 days to search the rubble for his loved ones. He says his wife, his sister-in-law who had been a guest, his father and mother, his grandfather and grandmother, an aunt's husband and daughter, an uncle, his father's cousin, the cousin's wife and their child were all killed. Twelve family members died, he said.
An only child, Mirzaei said he had expected to grow old with a large extended family that lived side by side. Now he says he is the only one left and feels utterly alone. The building where he was born, where his father was born and where he had hoped his child would be born was destroyed, he said.
Seven months later, he said he still visits the ruins every day and cannot bring himself to leave. He says he feels his life is buried there. Mirzaei also said his experience should make anyone who believes war can produce a good outcome reconsider, asking whether any part of this could be called good.
Source: Al Jazeera.
Questions and answers
- Who was killed in the Tehran building attack described by Hamed Mirzaei?
- He says 12 family members were killed, including his wife Mohadeseh, his parents, grandparents, an aunt's husband and daughter, an uncle, his father's cousin, the cousin's wife and child, and a sister-in-law who was a guest.
- What did Hamed Mirzaei say happened on March 9, 2026?
- He says he left home for work around 1pm and his wife messaged him at about 2:30pm to ask for headache medicine. Minutes later, five minutes from home, he heard a missile and the ground shook; five more missiles then struck his home.
- How is Hamed Mirzaei coping seven months after the attack?
- He says he returns to the ruins daily and cannot bring himself to leave. He says he feels his life is buried there and that he is the only one left from his family.
