Things have been bad for Arash, a storekeeper in Bandar Abbas, since Israel and the US began bombing his country in late February.

“I can barely even cover the rent for my shop. My sales have dropped 70 percent compared to before the war,” said the 20-something, who owns a clothing store in the Iranian port city. “People only have money left for food, water, and electricity. Nobody can afford to buy clothes anymore… The country’s economic situation has fallen into a mega-crisis.”

Like other Iranians who spoke to The Times of Israel, Arash said the fighting had not only left them and most of their countrymen poorer, but also more isolated and no less oppressed by the regime they had hoped the conflict would bring down.

With US President Donald Trump on the cusp of agreeing to a deal with the rulers in Tehran that reports indicate will end the fighting while freeing up billions of dollars for the regime, five residents of Iran described widespread unemployment and economic hardship, tighter surveillance and targeting of dissidents, and further restricted internet access since the war’s start.

Despite this fallout, the respondents, who all said they participated in past anti-regime protests, called on Israel and the US to renew their campaign, in the hopes that doing so would defeat the regime for good.

“The war did not reach its full conclusion,” said Arash, who is referred to here by a pseudonym, like the others. “Making peace with these criminals means handing the future back to them. They will rebuild themselves again and massacre the people once more. After the Trump administration ends, America may never again [fight] Iran,” he said.

The five Iranians answered questions from The Times of Israel sent via multiple anti-regime activists living in the United Kingdom and Canada. The respondents provided written and recorded accounts in Farsi on condition of anonymity, as communication with foreign media, especially Israeli, puts them at risk of severe punishment, including execution.

Their accounts and identities could not be independently verified. Nonetheless, they potentially offer a rare glimpse into how some Iranian civilians have experienced the war and its aftermath.

All five respondents said they had initially welcomed the Israeli and US bombing campaign with hopes that it would ultimately end the regime’s rule. With the ceasefire reached on April 8, that hope turned into fear that the Islamic Republic, wounded but intact, would remain in power indefinitely.

Kaveh, a teacher in his 40s living in Isfahan, said, “I was satisfied with the beginning of the war, but I am absolutely not satisfied with stopping it and leaving the matter unfinished… Most Iranians who oppose the Islamic regime supported the war, fully aware of the conditions and consequences.”

The regime is not just [Ali] Khamenei — the rest of it is still in place.

The regime is not just [Ali] Khamenei — the rest of it is still in place.

Rostam, a university student in Tehran, said he supported “war for the overthrow of the murderous Islamic Republic,” and was “disappointed” by the truce because “this government only understands the language of force.”

“The [Iranian] people are dissatisfied with the government and…want the formation of a national and democratic government that would be friendly toward America and Israel, and under which people could live with prosperity and progress. Right now, we are living under complete suffocation,” Rostam said.

Kian, an IT worker living in Karaj, claimed that “the majority of Iranians have moved beyond short-term thinking, meaning that in any conflict, their main demand is simply the removal of the regime from power.”

He said he “had expected the Islamic Republic to collapse [very] soon” after the war began — a result he believed would have made the chaotic fallout worth it for many — and therefore, when “the ceasefire was announced, it felt like a mockery of people who had fled in fear for their lives.”

Anti-regime activists had called on the US, and often on Israel as well, to use military force to back popular protests that had erupted against the country’s rulers in January, which Trump had threatened to do in response to a devastating crackdown. When the bombing did commence on February 28, it kicked off with a strike that killed supreme leader Ali........

© The Times of Israel