A broken economy and an emboldened regime: Iranians abandoned to endure fallout from war

As Donald Trump swung this week between threats of new military action against Iran and predictions that a lasting ceasefire deal was imminent, many Iranians were left exhausted and gripped by uncertainty. Despite the partial lifting of an internet shutdown that began when the war started on 28 February, fears of worsening repression at home have also fuelled pessimism about the future among some of those to whom the Guardian spoke. Speaking over the phone from Tehran last weekend, Saeed, who participated in the large protests against the regime earlier this year and, like others, asked to use a pseudonym for security reasons, said he feared what he viewed as the worst possible outcome had now arrived. “I predicted much earlier that if the US were to attack with promises of coming to our rescue and leaving us without a definitive plan, like this current ceasefire, then it would be the worst outcome. The economy is worse than it was on 28 December [when the protests began] and with the number of raids, arrests and executions daily, we have been left with an emboldened regime. We are truly in a fucked up situation,” he said. For Saeed, the aftermath has deepened not only political fears but also divisions within families, exposing generational fault lines over how the crisis is understood. Asked whether his views were widely shared, he described sharp disagreements among friends and relatives. …