Some Iranians fear the regime is now more entrenched

They are still there. There is no escape from the simple truth. People are walking everywhere. Wherever they go. Whenever they turn on the TV. The faces of assassinated leaders and new rulers dominate the public space.

Protests came and went. A war. Then ceasefire. However, the Islamic Republic regime continued to exist.

In fact, according to Iranians interviewed by the BBC within the country, the regime, far from weakening, has sunk deeper. And he is in a vengeful mood.

Sana and Diako (not their real names) are a young couple living in Tehran. They are middle class, educated, and the kind of people who want to see the end of rigid religious rule.

To tell their stories, it is necessary to exclude many details that could give insight into their characters and lives. This is because such details can be used by the regime to track people who dare to speak freely to foreign media.

The BBC journalist in Iran met Sana and Diako near a park where families who were making the most of the ceasefire were walking with their children.

Diako wants to believe that life will get better. “Things will change,” he says. “It’s already changed.”

He laughs as he tells you this.

“Has it been changed?” he asks. “It fell into the hands of the Revolutionary Guard. The country is a complete mess.” Sana felt that her feelings had changed since the US and Israel attacked Iran.

“I didn’t want the war to happen in the beginning… [But] “As long as they were targeting important figures in the middle of the war, I was really happy about the deaths of each of them.”

But as the war dragged on, Sana, like the Trump White House, realized that the loss of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures did not pave the way for a new regime more prone to compromise.

“Many of their people are still standing. What I dreamed of did not happen. Everything got worse. And we are left with the Islamic Republic. It hurts that they won this war.”

It is impossible to say the extent of support for the regime in Iranian society. Regular public demonstrations of solidarity are held by its supporters. In response, opposition rallies were banned.

Our trusted sources in Iran spoke to opposition activists, human rights lawyers and independent journalists and found an air of foreboding. There is a recurring fear: When the war is over, the state will increase its campaign of internal repression.

More than 53,000 people were arrested during anti-regime protests last January and before the start of the war, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Thousands more are believed to have been detained since the war began.

A record number of political prisoners were also executed; 21 people were hanged during the war. This is the highest figure seen in such a short period of time in more than 30 years. Nine of those hanged were linked to protests in January, 10 were alleged members of opposition groups and two were accused of espionage.

Susan, whose name we have changed, is a lawyer who works with detainees and says that conditions in prison have become much worse. “Before the war, those leading protests, throwing Molotov cocktails or gunmen were treated harshly. But during the war, this harshness increased significantly,” he says.

His personal story shows how conflict divides some families. His family is openly pro-regime and fears they could be targeted if the government is overthrown. When he expressed this fear to his brother, who was against the regime, his response was chilling: “If they want to be martyred, why are they denied this right?”

Susan wants the war to end, but she is certain that people like her will come under even greater pressure. And he is afraid of the fate of the prisoners. “If the war ends, I think the regime will probably take out its anger on this war on prisoners. I think we are living on borrowed time.”

Human rights advocates report that four people accused of ties to Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, have been executed so far this year.

Independent journalists are among those who fear being targeted by accusations that they are aiding the United States or Israel. A number of people accused of sending material to foreign media considered hostile to the state were arrested.

A journalist who spoke to our Tehran colleague – we call him Armin – explained how reporting the realities of war is enough to get arrested, with potentially lethal consequences.

“Previously, we could be accused of a political crime. But under the current war conditions, if we report on the war, we can be accused of espionage.” In a court system that carries out the regime’s orders, the charge of espionage carries the death penalty.

“We were trying to understand how many people had been harmed before or what impact the protests would ultimately have,” Armin explains. “But now it’s different. We’re now focused on survival: ourselves and our families.”

Armin is restless while his family tries to sleep.

“I lie awake wondering what the future will bring. And with this uncertainty comes terrible anxiety.”

It is no surprise that the opposition has disappeared from the streets. The regime is the master of life and death.

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard