US President Donald Trump promised “regime change” in Iran, but the Islamic Republic has emerged intact after nearly six weeks of the US-Israeli war, leaving opponents and activists inside the country disappointed and frightened.

With Iranian officials hailing the last-minute ceasefire as a triumph for the system that took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution, rights groups now fear emboldened authorities will launch a mass new domestic crackdown.

“This feels like unfinished business. I think eventually it’s going to be war again,” said a Tehran resident, 40, a broker on the Iranian stock exchange, asking not to be named for fear of reprisals.

“Ending in a situation where the Islamic Republic feels victorious isn’t really a good thing,” he told AFP in Paris from Tehran.

“They have more self-esteem. They kill more people. They keep the internet shut down. Everything is going to be way worse.”

Simin, 48, a teacher in Tehran, expressed relief over the ceasefire after being “terrified to our core” over the last five weeks.

But she said: “At the same time, the continuation of the Islamic Republic is just as frightening.”

“I am happy for a few seconds thinking about relief from bombs, but I am afraid of news of executions that is no easier than the bombs to deal with.”

Armin, 34, said that if the war ended and the Islamic Republic remained, “There is no benefit for the people.”

“The Islamic Republic will make the people pay for all the losses they sustained during the war,” he said.

Supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war along with an echelon of top officials.

But key figures have survived, Khamenei was replaced by his son, while Iran’s war machine kept fighting.

Even during the conflict, the Islamic Republic kept up executions, which rights activists see as a tool of repression aimed at instilling fear in society.

Since the war began on February 28, Iran has hanged seven people in connection with the January protests, six convicted of membership of the banned opposition group the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) and a........

© The Times of Israel