James Waterhouse

If the Iranian state apparatus was to collapse further, then that may well force people's hands.

It's not as simple as those being pro-regime and staying and those being anti-regime in Iran and leaving, voicing their support for this extraordinary bombing campaign by Israel and the US.

As you can imagine, it's a bit more nuanced.

Yes, you have those who did move back to Iran to take part in those demonstrations in the new year.

who described in vivid detail seeing how those protests were shut down so brutally by the security services and how they quietly held hope for this regime to bring some kind of meaningful change.

We met others who were returning to Iran out of concern for their families.

And many talk about the fear they're experiencing with those particular airstrikes.

And so I think at the moment, the border is opened.

Van, where I am in eastern Turkey, is popular among Iranians.

And there are some societal pressures here in terms of how the Iranians can integrate here, how easy it is to get jobs.

And of course, now you have that extra security dimension where you have aerial bombardments happening across the border, but also reports of the US looking to arm Kurdish militia groups as well.

So there is a lot going on.

And of course, you look for whatever symptom you can when it's so hard to get access to Iran itself.

It's not a concern you detect.

It seems the sort of Turkish authorities are controlling things for now and the numbers are manageable.

And of course, Iran...

like Turkey, is a big country.

So it seems there are several places of refuge for people to go to inside Iran.

And of course, Turkey is comparatively more expensive to base yourself in.

However, we know that can change if the Iranian state apparatus was to collapse further.