CAIRO (AP) — Iranians are living between confusion and exhaustion as the country and its economy are squeezed between war and multiplying crises at home.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he called off fresh strikes on Iran as he claimed a deal to end the war was imminent. Back-and-forth strikes earlier this week pushed a shaky ceasefire to the edge of collapse, which, if it happens, would inflict more havoc on Iran’s battered economy.
Strikes on steel and petrochemical industries and energy infrastructure earlier in the war have spurred a wave of business closures and job losses in Iran, where people now struggle to afford groceries in the face of triple-digit food inflation.
Many Iranians are desperate for peace
Along with the cratering economy, the specter of war has left many people desperate for an end to the turmoil and deeply anxious about the future. Huraz Ahmadi, a 19-year-old street vendor in the capital of Tehran, said he feared renewed fighting.