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TEHRAN: Facing the camera with a defiant gaze, her index finger raised in the air, Iranian TV presenter Sahar Emami became an icon in her country after an Israeli attack on the state broadcaster.
“What you can see is the flagrant aggression of the Zionist regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian broadcaster,” she said on air Monday as several explosions were heard in the background.
“What you just heard was the sound of an aggressor against the motherland, the sound of an aggressor against truth,” added Emami, who is known for her impactful interviews with government officials.
“This dust you see in the studio...” she began, her finger raised, before being interrupted by the sound of yet another blast.
The journalist, clad in a black chador, rushed out of her seat and disappeared from view.
The destruction in the studio, which quickly filled with smoke and dust, was broadcast live before the transmission was cut.
Emami, who Iranian media say is in her 40s, is a familiar face to viewers in the Islamic republic after some 15 years on air with state television.
She resumed the broadcast just a few minutes after the attack, as if nothing unusual had happened.
The broadcaster’s headquarters in the capital Tehran with its recognizable glass exterior was badly damaged in the fire that broke out as a result of the Israeli attack.
Official media shared images of charred offices and studios no longer usable.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday denounced Israel’s “cowardice” in striking the state television building, in an attack that the broadcaster said killed three people.
“The attack against the Iranian broadcaster demonstrates the Israelis’ desperation,” Araghchi said.
Conservative newspaper Farhikhtegan said on its front page on Tuesday: “Female journalist’s resistance until the last moment sends a clear message.”
Ultraconservative publication Kayhan said: “The courage of the lioness presenter surprised friends and foes.”
The government put up a banner in Tehran’s central Vali-Asr Square honoring Emami, showing her image paired with a verse from the Persian poet Ferdowsi that celebrated the courage of women “on the battlefield.”
The state broadcaster has aired the clip of Emami during Monday’s attacks multiple times since then, celebrating its presenter.
State TV meanwhile mocked a reporter for the London-based Iran International TV, which is critical of the Iranian government.
In footage from a live broadcast, the reporter in Israel is seen rushing to a bomb shelter after warnings of incoming missiles from Iran.
 

TAMRA, Israel: An Arab town in northern Israel paid a heavy price for the ongoing air war between Iran and Israel when a ballistic missile slammed into a home there, killing four people and upending life in the small community.
Hundreds of sobbing residents crowded the narrow streets of Tamra on Tuesday to watch as the wooden coffins adorned with colorful wreaths were carried to the town’s cemetery.
To some, the Iranian strike highlighted the unequal protections afforded Israel’s Arab minority, while to others, it merely underscored the cruel indifference of war.

Raja Khatib has been left to pick up the pieces from an attack that killed his wife, two of his daughters and a sister in law.
“I wish to myself, if only the missile would have hit me as well. And I would be with them, and I wouldn’t be suffering anymore,” Khatib told AFP.
“Learn from me: no more victims. Stop the war.”
After five days of fighting, at least 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds more wounded by the repeated barrages launched from Iran.
Israel’s sophisticated air defense systems have managed to intercept a majority of the missiles and drones targeting the country.
But some have managed to slip through.

With some projectiles roughly the size of a train carriage and carrying a payload that can weigh hundreds of kilograms, Iran’s ballistic missiles can be devastating upon impact.
A single strike can destroy large swaths of a city block and rip gaping holes in an apartment building, while the shockwave can shatter windows and wreak havoc on the surrounding area.
The level of destruction from the missiles has been unprecedented in Israel, even after 20 months of continuous war in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

Along with Tamra, barrages have also hit residential areas in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva and Haifa.

As the coffins made their way through Tamra on Tuesday, a group of women tended to a relative of the victims who had become faint with grief, dabbing cold water on her cheeks and forehead.
At the cemetery, men embraced and young girls cried at the foot of the freshly dug graves.
Iran has continued to fire daily salvos since Israel launched a surprise air campaign that it says is aimed at preventing the Islamic republic from acquiring nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran denies.
In Iran, Israel’s wide-ranging air strikes have killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.
Despite mounting calls to de-escalate, neither side has backed off from the fighting.
In Israel, frequent air raid alerts have kept residents close to bomb shelters, while streets across the country have largely emptied and shops shuttered.
But some in the country’s Arab minority have said the government has done too little to protect them, pointing to unequal access to public shelters used to weather the barrages.
Most of Israel’s Arab minority identify as Palestinians who remained in what is now Israel after its creation in 1948. They represent about 20 percent of the country’s population.
The community frequently professes to face discrimination from Israel’s Jewish majority.
“The state, unfortunately, still distinguishes between blood and blood,” Ayman Odeh, an Israeli parliamentarian of Palestinian descent, wrote on social media after touring Tamra earlier this week.
“Tamra is not a village. It is a city without public shelters,” Odeh added, saying that this was the case for 60 percent of “local authorities” — the Israeli term for communities not officially registered as cities, many of which are majority Arab.
But for residents like Khatib, the damage has already been done.
“What are these wars for? Let’s make peace, for the sake of the two people,” he said.
“I am a Muslim. This missile killed Muslims. Did it differentiate between Jews and Muslims? No, when it hits, it doesn’t distinguish between people.”