An Iranian woman’s diary: ‘It feels as if we are trapped in a massive, lethal video game’

An Irishwoman’s Diary is dedicating this week’s column to ‘M’, who is offering unflinching testimony of the reality of war at a human level, starting today with some extracts, which show the fear, stress, and anxiety being experienced by one woman, on the situation and life near Tehran.

FILE - A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. Picture: AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji

They say that truth is the first casualty of war — and it is — but there is another overlooked feature of modern conflict that is worse: the obscene mismatch between the language of the aggressors and the impact of their military machismo on the civilians caught in the onslaught.

Recall the “collateral damage” of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, an odious term used to distract from the human cost of war.