Over Iran, the sky is falling in. The US-Israeli bombardment has begun: there are bodies beneath the rubble. The Ayatollah is dead. The guards have abandoned the prisons. The rain is black with fuel; it burns the skin and the streets.

In this searing and contemplative work, writer, academic and Tehran resident Raha Nik-Andish documents life in the Islamic Republic in the days and months leading up to "Operation Epic Fury." In a rarely-seen portrait of a regime in freefall, this is Tehran on the brink; the crushed protests over the collapse of the currency; the taxicabs circling the city for work; the burned out garbage cans and the taped-up windows.

What does it mean to exist under siege? Or repression, blackout and total fear? How do you get the message out? Piercing, poignant and delicately observed, this is the vital story of a city at the end of the world - and an act of witness against darkness.