Tehran, Iran – For months now, US President Donald Trump has been making nearly daily proclamations about the war on Iran – from threats of extensive bombing to claims of renewed negotiations. But Faezeh, a financial firm employee in Iran’s capital, says she has long stopped paying attention.
“His words certainly impact our lives, but I try to escape this toxic environment of uncertainty by focusing on what I can control and protecting myself and my loved ones,” the 27-year-old told Al Jazeera.
She is not the only one to do so.
As the war approaches its six-month mark, a number of Iranians are opting against chasing the non-stop headlines in an effort to protect their mental health. This week, as the threat of large-scale US military action once again loomed large, the level of expectation and concern among Iranians appeared to be much lower than on April 7, when the US president warned that “a whole civilisation will die tonight”, only to announce a ceasefire shortly afterwards.
“The US used to have presidents who talked less and did more,” asserted Roham, a colleague of Faezeh at the financial company in central Tehran. “But now with the role of social media and other outlets in which Mr Trump is well-versed, he talks more and doesn’t have to do as much,” he told Al Jazeera.
For Roham, what is ultimately missing is not solid decision-making by Trump, but a desire by Iranian authorities to create more space and allow more voices to be heard inside the country. He said he sees no chance of that becoming possible at the moment.
“So we’re up in the air and lack of certainty in our lives has reached a peak,” he added.
Calling Trump’s pronouncements a “repetitive loop” aimed at impacting global markets, Faezeh said any person who makes so many contradictory remarks at such a high pace cannot be considered valid in her eyes.
Looking ahead, she expects economic situations to get considerably worse, including a further depreciation of Iran’s national currency.
Iran’s rial changed hands for about 1.91 million against the US dollar in Tehran’s open market on Monday, hovering near an all-time low. The currency had strengthened to about 1.54 million per greenback in mid-June, in reaction to a now-suspended deal between Iran and the US that was facilitated by regional mediators.
Trump boasted on social media about tanking the rial this week, using a diagram that said he was “destroying Iran’s currency”. It also said there was “massive inflation” in Iran. The Statistical Center of Iran put the inflation rate for the calendar month that ended on July 22 at nearly 90 percent compared to the same month a year earlier.
Ali, a product manager at a technology company in the capital, said the US president mostly cares about stock markets and oil prices, so he also looks at those indicators too when trying to decipher the meaning behind Trump’s statements.
“My view is that Trump won’t undertake any serious action in terms of hitting energy infrastructure or launching a ground attack against Iran at least until the Congress elections,” he said, in reference to November’s polls in the US. “He will keep playing this game and go back and forth”.
Ali said he believes Trump would prefer an agreement that would allow him to declare victory, but that the spectre of war was expected to hang over the country in the coming months.
‘Centre of gravity for foreign relations’
Following reported threats of a “massive attack” on Iran, Trump on Sunday said talks facilitated by mediators would take place with representatives from Tehran on Monday, while Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz were in the final stages with Oman, not with the US.
The latest on-again, off-again comments on war and negotiations by the US president also found their way onto state television in Iran.
A hardline war-focused programme asked Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Sunday night whether the Trump administration’s claim was true that Tehran had directly or indirectly asked Washington not to attack energy infrastructure and instead focus on negotiations.
“I am sometimes surprised why you put so much stock in comments by US officials that have time and time again proven baseless,” Baghaei said, adding that the Islamic Republic would not back down from its “principled positions”.
Those positions include maintaining a level of control in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says will not go back to its pre-war status, as well as resistance towards giving major concessions on the country’s nuclear programme and the “axis of resistance” of armed forces across the region. For any long-term deal, Tehran has also requested an effective lifting of harsh US sanctions that have hit Iran’s economy hard over the past decade.
State TV has urged people to remain prepared for a potentially resumed war, as hardliners refute any negotiated solution with Washington.
Earlier this week, a state TV analyst said the US is likely to attempt a combination of moves to topple the Islamic Republic if the war resumes at scale, including assassinations, infrastructure attacks, propagating internal unrest, border clashes and a ground offensive in southern Iran.
On Monday, Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, renewed his support for a deal, saying he believes that the memorandum of understanding signed with the US in June will act as “the centre of gravity of our foreign relations in the future”.
“We must strive to compel the enemy to remain committed to what it has signed. The security of the country, the region and our allies will be enhanced by this memorandum,” he posted on social media.
Hours later, it was time for Trump to issue another declaration.
“Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform, referring to the US blockade on Iran’s southern ports.
“Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades.”
