After Israeli strikes landed near the hotel where he was staying in the Iranian province of Qom, Aimal Hussein desperately wanted to return home. However, the 55-year-old Afghan businessman could not find a way, with Iranian airspace completely shut down.

He fled to Tehran after the strike on Sunday, but no taxi would take him to the border as the conflict between Iran and Israel intensified. "Flights, markets, everything is closed, and I am living in the basement of a small hotel," Hussein told The Associated Press by mobile phone on Monday. "I am trying to get to the border by taxi, but they are hard to find, and no one is taking us.”

Israel launched a major attack on Friday with strikes in the Iranian capital of Tehran and elsewhere, killing senior military officials, nuclear scientists, and destroying critical infrastructure. Among the targets was a nuclear enrichment facility about 18 miles from Qom. Iran has retaliated with hundreds of drones and missiles.