Friday 10 / April / 2026
The joint US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran may have paused, but for many people inside the Islamic Republic, the fear has not.
After more than a month of war, Tehran and Washington have agreed to a conditional two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan. US and Iranian negotiators are due to meet in Islamabad this weekend for direct talks aimed at forging a permanent deal.
Shortly after the temporary truce was announced, Iranian officials moved quickly to frame the deal as a political victory, insisting that the Islamic Republic had resisted military pressure and forced its adversaries to step back.
Iranian state messaging has portrayed the ceasefire as proof that Iran's "victory on the battlefield" will now be secured politically.
But that is not how many inside the country are experiencing this moment. For them, the ceasefire has brought relief, but not peace.
The war may have paused, yet Iran's political system remains intact, heightening public anxiety that a government battered by war but still in power may now respond by tightening repression at home.
The tenuous truce so far means many fear things could unravel at any time. Tehran is approaching post-ceasefire talks with deep caution, the Reuters news agency reported, while US officials have made clear they are ready to resume fighting if diplomacy fails.
Relief, but no sense of safety
One Iranian citizen, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told DW that the ceasefire had not eased the deeper fear now spreading among many people.
"Now that there is a ceasefire and the regime did not change, there is real concern that the government will become harsher with people and that the atmosphere will become even more suffocating," the source said.
That fear runs through many of the conversations now taking place inside Iran, with people worrying about what happens next.
Another Iranian told DW that many had initially believed the war might quickly produce a political outcome if senior leaders and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders were killed. But that expectation proved wrong.
"We thought it would be over," the source said. "Now the war is paused, but nothing is resolved."
A victory narrative many do not buy
State media and officials in Iran have tried to frame the ceasefire as a triumph, as though the country had turned military survival into political success. But for many Iranians, that language feels detached from reality.
The leadership may still be standing, but much of the war's cost is impossible to hide.
The conflict killed some of the Islamic Republic's most senior figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while also damaging vital infrastructure and exposing how close the country had come to a far wider disaster.
The system survived, but survival at such a cost does not automatically feel like victory to those living through it.
And that is what is shaping the current public mood, with many citizens feeling only exhaustion, uncertainty and dread.
A victory narrative many do not buy
State media and officials in Iran have tried to frame the ceasefire as a triumph, as though the country had turned military survival into political success. But for many Iranians, that language feels detached from reality.
The leadership may still be standing, but much of the war's cost is impossible to hide.
The conflict killed some of the Islamic Republic's most senior figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while also damaging vital infrastructure and exposing how close the country had come to a far wider disaster.
The system survived, but survival at such a cost does not automatically feel like victory to those living through it.
And that is what is shaping the current public mood, with many citizens feeling only exhaustion, uncertainty and dread.
