{"id":550740,"date":"2026-03-28T16:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550740\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T16:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:33:10","slug":"iran-faces-bombs-and-uncertainty-a-month-into-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550740\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran faces bombs and uncertainty a month into the war"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAIRO (AP) \u2014 Iranians were already reeling from a shattered economy and the mass killing of protesters when the first U.S. and Israeli bombs slammed into Tehran<\/a> a month ago.<\/p>\n

Now they are struggling to get by through a war with no end in sight<\/a>, wrestling with lost livelihoods, damage to homes and the stress of explosions. Many wonder where it is leading \u2014 to the destruction of their homeland, the chaotic fall of the theocracy or its survival, wounded but more extreme<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve experienced everything bad possible,\u201d said a 26-year-old designer in Tehran, \u201cfrom the terrible atmosphere of January and the killings and arrests to the war.\u201d <\/p>\n

Daily explosions, near and far and unpredictable<\/a>, shake and damage homes. Businesses are struggling. An unprecedented internet blackout since January has largely cut people off from the outside world and made communication within Iran more difficult.<\/p>\n

The trauma of war comes on top of the shock from January, when hundreds of thousands across Iran marched in the biggest protests<\/a> against the theocracy in decades \u2014 only to be met by security forces opening fire, killing thousands. Tens of thousands were detained, and arrests have continued<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The AP spoke to 10 people across Iran, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for their security.<\/p>\n

Businesses crumbling<\/p>\n

The designer, who with a partner runs a factory making leather fashion products, said her business was on the verge of closing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the economy gets bad, nonessential goods are the first thing to be removed from the shopping cart,\u201d she said. Much of her sales are online, and the internet blackout practically reduced \u201cthe small sales to zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the January protests, she has had to live off her meager savings, and the violence of the crackdown upset her so much she has not been able to return to work. <\/p>\n

When the war began on Feb. 28, she moved to her parents\u2019 house. A few days later, the blast from a nearby strike damaged her apartment that she had just left. Like most Iranians, she doesn\u2019t have home insurance, so she will have to pay for repairs herself.<\/p>\n

She only leaves her parents\u2019 house to buy necessities.<\/p>\n

Trying to track strikes<\/p>\n

The terrifying cadence of airstrikes shapes daily life in Tehran. <\/p>\n

An engineer living in Tehran tries to find a pattern in strikes \u2013 are certain times safer? Recent nights saw explosions light up the skies. One evening, a blast shook his home as he had guests over. They climbed up on the roof and tried in vain to figure out where it hit. \u201cWe didn\u2019t see any visible fire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He thinks the strikes are less frequent now, or maybe \u201cour perception of it has changed,\u201d as everyone gets used to bombings.<\/p>\n

He feels anxious when family or friends go out on the streets, and struggles to sleep. He had a job offer before the war but does not know if it is still there. Soon, he says, many will struggle with rent and bills.<\/p>\n

Government workers, who make up a large part of the workforce, are still getting salaries. But private businesses are struggling to pay employees as they close for days on end or reduce hours.<\/p>\n

The collapse of Iran\u2019s currency<\/a>, largely caused by U.S. and international sanctions over its nuclear program, triggered the protests late last year.<\/p>\n

Strained resources in the relatively unscathed north<\/p>\n

Many Iranians have fled to the north, which has been relatively unscathed. One of the main cities, Rasht, has been packed with Iranians who fled from Tehran and elsewhere, straining local resources.<\/p>\n

A doctor at a pediatric hospital said the number of patients has nearly doubled. Medicines are running out, he said, and patients now are asked to buy some basic supplies, including antibiotics or IV fluids, from the market.<\/p>\n

The internet blackout is affecting his ability to access his patients\u2019 history and check correct dosages online, he said. It has also forced the doctor to set aside his own personal effort to document the casualty toll from the January crackdown because witnesses are unreachable and the online database is inaccessible.<\/p>\n

He plays video games or watches television to pass the time. In a week-old binge, he is five seasons into \u201cThe Walking Dead,\u201d the American postapocalyptic horror drama series. <\/p>\n

Anxiety over the future <\/p>\n

Throughout, Iranians have been wrestling with widely mixed feelings over the war, the ruling theocracy and the future.<\/p>\n

Authorities continue to organize pro-government street rallies, aiming to show public support. The feared paramilitary Basij<\/a>, charged with internal security, has stepped up patrols even as it is targeted in airstrikes.<\/p>\n

The engineer said decades of misrule have been hard on Iranians. But he said that doesn\u2019t justify the U.S.-Israeli attacks. He was angered by the deaths and the damage to infrastructure and military capacities.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s trying to channel that anger into determination to rebuild. \u201cI\u2019m going to be stronger after this war. I will be damaged, just like my country. But that\u2019s it. This is life. We\u2019re going to make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the start of the war, U.S. President Donald Trump called on Iranians to overthrow their leaders. Now, he says he is negotiating<\/a> with senior Iranian officials who he claims are \u201cbegging\u201d for a deal, without naming them. Iran has denied any such talks are underway.<\/p>\n

Some Iranians fear the war will leave behind a wounded but even more oppressive Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

One woman in her 40s said she feared negotiations more than war. \u201cThis is what our situation has come to \u2014 we are willing to endure war in the hope of being freed from them,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The doctor in Rasht said he viewed the war as \u201cthe last remaining option\u201d for getting rid of the ruling clerics. But he fears the way that the U.S. and Israel are conducting it. If the U.S. strikes a deal now, he said, it would only entrench the theocracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have the Islamic Republic on steroids,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are afraid they will take this revenge out on the people, which they very openly see as the enemy from inside.\u201d <\/p>\n

In southwestern Iran, a lawyer who has represented detainees and women\u2019s rights defenders \u2014 and has herself been imprisoned \u2014 spoke to the AP earlier in the war, saying she dreamed of the day the Islamic Republic would crumble. She spoke about the power of collective action and self-determination.<\/p>\n

After a month of bombings, she seemed more introspective, taciturn, exhausted by isolation and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no sign of hope, no dreams, no joy,\u201d she said. \u201cWorry about the future has taken over.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

El Deeb reported from Beirut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO (AP) \u2014 Iranians were already reeling from a shattered economy and the mass killing of protesters when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1574,12,101,793,174,801,1570,228242,3,3775,147914,153670,21,19,22,20,25,24,16757,965],"class_list":["post-550740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-bombings","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-general-news","tag-internet","tag-iran","tag-iran-government","tag-iran-war","tag-news","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-religion-and-politics","tag-tehran","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-violence","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}