• Tension: Trump announces the sending of troops to Saudi Arabia and Tehran threatens to turn the country that attacks it into a "battlefield"
  • Crisis: Iran reaches out to neighboring countries and refuses to send US troops

Neguin oozes courage. Half a year ago, tired of chaining precarious jobs, and in full storm of sanctions, this young woman decided to fulfill a dream: to open a cafeteria. "Everyone recommended me not to do it, but I wanted it. We joined four partners and, despite the fact that at the last minute one of them withdrew for fear of possible economic problems due to the sanctions, we continued, even having to put more each one of us".

It is time to eat and the place, near the center, is empty. While one of his colleagues prepares a projector to attract customers with the claim to see the derby between the Esteghal and the Persepolis, Neguin makes accounts. "From last week to here the dry pasta has increased 3,000 tomatoes (about two euros). So of course the sanctions affect us," he says. "And not only that. People have less to spend on leisure, so they don't go to coffee often."

Therefore, while war winds blow on the southern flank of Iran, Neguin's greatest fear is that this tense scenario, unleashed by Donald Trump when, in 2018, he withdrew from the nuclear agreement and re-imposed draconian sanctions, deteriorates to damage Plus the economy. "That's why the news of military coups scares me," he confesses. Beside him, Zohre, a journalist, comments: "I have been listening to US threats of war to my country for 30 years. That is why the latest news does not affect me much."

The "maximum pressure" strategy, declared by Trump with the express intention of containing Iran, is contradictorily managing to spur a regional conflict. The last event, an attack on two oil complexes in Saudi Arabia, triggered the price of crude oil and led to the multiplying of calls in the US to respond militarily to Iran , accused by Washington of the coup. Iranians reject authorship, which was attributed to the Yemeni Houthi movement. Finally, Trump countered by sanctioning the Iranian Central Bank and its Development Fund.

Memory of the war with Iraq

Iran is a deeply patriotic country. A feeling present in most social layers, regardless of their ideology. Therefore, at times like the present one, a common instinct prevails among Iranians in favor of a firm response to what is perceived as an external threat. This Sunday has commemorated, with great military parades, the 39th anniversary of one of the main reasons for this sentiment: the Iraq-Iran war , also called the "imposed war".

It was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the twentieth century, comparable to the First World War in savagery. The executed Iraqi president Saddam Husein unleashed him by invading the neighboring country, denouncing a vital threat from the incipient Islamic Republic. What followed were eight years of mutual hostilities that, due to the isolation of Iran, and Western support for an Iraqi leader who ended up launching chemical attacks against the civilian population, settled in a strong Iranian resentment with the West .

"Salame, Abadan, Bustan ..." Husein lists, like a litany, fronts of a war in which he had to fight as a cadet, and which he prefers not to repeat. "The majority of Iranians neither believe in their leaders nor believe in the good faith of foreign powers. The situation is very complicated. I hope that the current conflict ends without a devastating and bloody war and in favor of the Iranian people," he says. During the military parade this Sunday, the president, Hasan Rohani, has opened the door to reduce tension.

Rohani, who will travel to the UN General Assembly on Monday, has announced a plan to "secure" the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea "with the help of countries in the region." The chief executive justified his proposal by stressing that measures with foreign intervention, such as the US decision to send a new military contingent to Saudi Arabia, "create more insecurity." More taxative has been his Foreign Minister, Mohamed Yavad Zarif, speaking for the CBS network: "No, I'm not sure we can avoid a war, but I'm sure we won't start one."

"Economic war"

More sanctions are what Iran denounces as "economic warfare", to which it responds by harassing the oil trade by the Strait of Hormuz and stepping down its commitments to the nuclear agreement. A war without bombs, but devastating for the working class. People who in 2016, when signing the pact, dreamed of prospering, today is mired in distress . She feels prey to the EU's inability to stand up to Trump's sanctions and strong internal pressure, attributed to external pressure.

This domestic climate is felt especially among popular faces in social networks, journalists and activists, likely to be accused of threatening national security or collusion with the foreign enemy. After being arrested in a workers' protest on May 1, a researcher and a reporter from a reformist newspaper were sentenced to 11 and 10 years in prison, in addition to lashes. Saba Kord Afshari, among others, languishes behind bars for protesting against the obligation of the veil.

"Like many young people, I am furious with the Iranian government for its inability to solve some internal problems in the country. But when I evaluate the failure of the Iranian negotiation process with the West, the nuclear agreement, and I consider the US withdrawal and lack of independence and willingness of European countries to maintain it , I conclude that my Government has had no other option in foreign policy, "says Roya, legal advisor.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Donald Trump
  • U.S

Crisis in the Middle East US sanctions the Central Bank and the Iran Development Fund

United States Trump says the US is "charged and ready" to respond to the attack in Saudi Arabia

Middle East Saudi Arabia claims that Iranian weapons were used in the attack on the refineries and denies that it originated in Yemen