‘We want peace’: Iranians try to maintain semblance of normal life as conflict drags on | US-Israel war on Iran

TThe days after Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, are usually a busy time in Tehran; Spring is coming, trees are blooming, businesses are reopening after the holidays, and people are returning to work and school.

But this year, Iranians are struggling to maintain an ordinary lifestyle amid constant explosions, airstrikes and a conflict that many fear could last weeks or months.

“People are increasingly normalizing this war,” said Farhad, a photo editor in Tehran. “It is difficult, but we are getting used to it and trying to return to our daily lives as much as possible. There is no alternative. We are tired. We just want peace.”

Explosions lit up the city skyline as Israel launched new airstrikes on Wednesday, but by dawn runners were exercising again in Pardisan Park. Schools and universities have been closed since the beginning of the war, but shops, restaurants and cafes are slowly reopening.

Aylar, a 39-year-old human rights worker who spent the first weeks of the war sheltering at home with her cats, said that she paid for an expensive VPN to bypass the internet blackout imposed by Iranian authorities so that she could talk to her relatives abroad. “On the same day, on a sunny spring day, I also went to have coffee and chocolate cake with my friends. These contradictory facts are strange,” he said.

The official death toll in Iran has been frozen at around 1,500 for days, but the real figure may be more than 3,000 and there may be many more injured, according to the Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency, which tracks attacks and casualties across the country.

While many Iranians managed to stay safe from attacks at home, others found themselves dangerously close to violence.

Azadeh, a 46-year-old researcher and cinematographer who returned to Iran after completing her doctorate in Türkiye, said that she was out with her pregnant sister during the strike.

“He was only 200 meters away from us. I held him tightly in my arms to protect him from the shrapnel, and at that moment I felt very helpless,” he said from his home in Tehran. “Every time I hear an explosion, I get scared. But at the same time, I feel a great responsibility towards my family, my sister and my elderly grandmother. I want to protect them from this war. I have been living in constant fear since the attack.”

With schools and universities still closed, many international students have chosen to leave Iran for now. “There was a huge migration,” said Hasina, a 26-year-old Afghan medical student who traveled by train and bus from Tehran to Afghanistan to wait out the war.

“Leaving was sad and scary, and it was also difficult to return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. At the border, many of us women were in trouble with the Taliban because we came without a male guardian. I hope to return to Iran soon,” she said of Herat, a city in western Afghanistan near the Iranian border, adding that being with her family was better than “hiding from the bombs in Tehran” for now.

The future is uncertain for many Iranians. Some have expressed concern that without significant political change, the conflict could become a recurring reality. “Last year we had a 12-day war with Israel and now we are under attack again,” said Abbas, 41, who lives in Tehran. “I worry about this becoming a pattern.”

This uncertainty is exacerbated by deep divisions within society, and Tehran remains polarized.

Most Iranians oppose the war, regardless of their political affiliation, but some welcome it, seeing violence as the best chance for the destruction of the Islamic Republic.

In the hours after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was announced, some Tehrans climbed onto rooftops and shouted “azadi” (freedom) throughout the night in scenes of spontaneous celebration, while elsewhere government supporters gathered in the streets to mourn, hold vigils and recite prayers.

However, as attacks intensified across the country, pro-government supporters gathered in the streets and squares every evening and chanted slogans such as “Allah is great, Khamenei is the leader” and “Death to America, death to Israel.”

“Our society is divided. Some believe this war could lead to a free, democratic government backed by the United States, while others reject it, pointing to U.S. failures across the region,” Farhad said. “At the same time, many people are suffering and being killed. Why are there no anti-war protests in the United States? No one seems to care.”