CAIRO — Iranians are living between confusion and exhaustion as the country and its economy are squeezed between war and multiplying crises at home.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he called off fresh strikes on Iran as he claimed a deal to end the war was imminent. Back-and-forth strikes earlier this week pushed a shaky ceasefire to the edge of collapse, which, if it happens, would inflict more havoc on Iran's battered economy.
Strikes on steel and petrochemical industries and energy infrastructure earlier in the war have spurred a wave of business closures and job losses in Iran, where people now struggle to afford groceries in the face of triple-digit food inflation.
Many Iranians are desperate for peace
Along with the cratering economy, the specter of war has left many people desperate for an end to the turmoil and deeply anxious about the future. Huraz Ahmadi, a 19-year-old street vendor in the capital of Tehran, said he feared renewed fighting.
“I don’t think they will reach an agreement, given the way things are going. But I hope they make a deal. An agreement is much better than war,” Ahmadi said. “In wars, innocent and good people die. I personally lost a relative.”
In the past year, Iranians have faced two wars – first Israel’s 12-day war in 2025 against Iran followed by a joint assault with the U.S. that began on Feb. 28. Both attacks were launched in the middle of talks about Iran’s nuclear program.
Fresh U.S. strikes on Monday sowed confusion in Iran’s capital following growing optimism that Tehran and Washington were nearing a deal. One Tehran resident in his late 20s said the echo of explosions and air defenses in the capital triggered “maybe a half hour of panic." Long lines formed at gas stations, but people returned within hours to “living normally,” he said.
“War is also becoming normal. And that is very upsetting,” the resident said, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of security fears.
“Everybody is stressed out for a thousand reasons,” he added. “Our lives are constantly in this political game where we can’t plan anything or know what’s going to happen.”
A country ‘tired of instability’
A critical demand in talks for Iranian negotiators is that the U.S. deliver some kind of sanctions or economic relief, besides lifting a naval blockade that has throttled Iran's oil exports as well as imports of raw materials and other goods.
Many business owners are struggling to survive, a member of a council representing Iranian industrialists said.
“The main concern of many industrialists and entrepreneurs is the survival of their businesses and production. The concern is about the disruption of the supply chain of raw materials, parts and machinery due to the cruel U.S. blockade,” Mehdi Bostanchi said.
Tehran-based Bostanchi, who owns a company that makes ventilation systems, is part of a trade group for factory owners across Iran. Its members include textile, food and metal producers and printing firms.
Bostanchi said uncertainty over any deal to end the war is stifling the ability of businesses to plan ahead and look toward any kind of recovery.
“Society is tired of instability and does not want a wider war to break out,” he added.
Iran's rial currency has also lost over half its value in the past year. Exchange rates have crashed to around 1.8 million rials to the dollar, compared with 41,600 rials 10 years ago.
Economic woes stoke unrest and fear
The deepening economic problems have stoked unrest in Iran. In January, security forces shot thousands of anti-government protesters in the streets. Arrests of protesters and those expressing support for them has continued through the war.
Alongside fear of their own leaders, Iranians who oppose the government also fear a return to open war, said a social media influencer and therapist who lives in central Tehran and has participated in past anti-government protests.
“The war isn’t anything but destruction for us. And in reality, the attacks that happened killed a number of ordinary people and destroyed a number of homes and residential buildings,” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution.
Residents contacted by The Associated Press also expressed worries that renewed conflict would lead Iranian authorities to cut internet service again. Repeated blackouts since the January protests have crippled what was a strong digital economy and stoked job losses. A partial restoration has seen a limited uptick in connectivity.
Next steps are unclear
A few hours after threatening to launch further attacks, Trump posted on social media that significant points in the negotiations “have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.” But a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said in a live phone call on state television that mediators were active and nothing had been finalized to end the conflict.
Iran's ability to withstand U.S.-Israeli assaults and to close the globally strategic Strait of Hormuz has also rallied the Islamic Republic's hard-liner base. Authorities have organized nightly rallies in past weeks as they try to project popular support for a tough stance in U.S. talks.
Hamid Reza Bani Ebrahimi, a 47-year-old merchant, said he opposed any agreement that would limit what he sees as Iran’s right to enrich uranium and develop nuclear technology. Israel and the U.S. have repeatedly struck sites and figures linked with the country’s atomic program.
“Our scientists worked so hard to acquire this technology, and then they came and martyred them,” Bani Ebrahimi said.
Abdullah Hosseini, a 45-year-old university professor in Tehran, said Iranian strikes on Gulf states and Jordan this past week were part of an effort to deter further attacks.
“I don’t like war. I am extremely worried about people and children being killed,” Hosseini said. “But sometimes war is necessary, and now is the time for Iran to stand against its enemy."
But Tehran-based analyst Rahman Ghahremanpour said the back-and-forth strikes this week had deepened concerns in Iran that the conflict “could turn into a crisis without end and in reality make running the country more difficult” in the face of economic pressures.
“Both America and Iran are looking for a way out of this situation with honor and claiming victory so they can strengthen their own domestic situation,” he said.