The women's shawls have stronger colors and larger patterns than the last I was here in October last year.

A black changer comes up and asks if I want to exchange my dollars with the Iranian currency, the rial. He offers three times more money than the official exchange rate.

The food is twice as expensive

At one of the stalls selling coffee and chocolate, Bahare sneaks into her wallet. She hesitates. Food costs twice as much now as it did a year ago, she says. Imported goods such as coffee and chocolate have become even more expensive.

She herself is about to get married in a couple of months and wonders how she and her hubby can afford to move to their new home. The middle class and the poor. No one can avoid feeling what is happening. The increased prices are an effect of the toughening situation between Iran and the outside world.

After the US signed the International Nuclear Energy Agreement last year and reintroduced sanctions on Iran, the country's economy has been set free. European countries that say they want to buy Iran's oil cannot, in practice, do so because companies and banks doing business with Iran risk US criminal actions.

The United States and Saudi Arabia - and several other countries - have designated Iran as responsible for the recent attacks on the Saudi oil industry. Iran's foreign minister has responded that an attack by the US or Saudi Arabia would now lead to full-scale war. But in a country where many have their own memories of war, the tone of the news broadcasts arouses feelings.

When we ask about the tensions facing the outside world, Bahare, who is shopping for her wedding, begins to cry. As a little girl, she lost her uncle in the Iran-Iraq war.

"I don't want conflict"

- It doesn't matter if it's my country or another country. I don't want any conflict, she says.

Neither the United States, Iran nor Saudi Arabia want a war. It is the escalated situation that worries that a mistake from either side can escalate out of control.

Mohamed Reza, who owns one of the shops in the bazaar, says that the mood of the customers has been affected.

- Prices are rising, but what's happening also has a psychological effect, he notes.

An older woman comes forward and says that the coffee must be of higher quality now that it has become so expensive. She looks angry. Mohamed Reza smiles at her. The bazaar is similar and the discussions are the same. But people have become poorer, and the stress does not escape anyone.