As war drums beat, crisis-hit Iranians cheer, fear or simply shrug

As war drums beat, crisis-hit Iranians cheer, fear or simply shrug

By Parisa Hafezi

At Tehran's central Valiasr Square, a towering billboard with a yellow-and-green portrait of slain Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah looms over passing pedestrians. A Quranic verse proclaims: "God’s victory is close at hand."

Nearby banners and newspaper headlines vow vengeance against Israel for its assaults on Iranian assets across the region, and and a 30-foot missile on display in front of a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei points skyward.

Israel killed Nasrallah, Iran’s most important ally in the Levant, in an airstrike last week that flattened a Beirut neighbourhood.

Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in what it said was a response to Israel’s repeated targeting of Iranian interests in the region - a move that Western leaders worry could lead to a direct Israel-Iran war.

While war drums beat, crisis-weary Iranians are split between those who wish Israel ill, those who hope a war might remove their own clerical system, and those who are simply resigned to yet another dark chapter in their lives.

"Have they considered the repercussions of this attack?" Saeed, a 43-year-old English teacher from the central city of Isfahan, said, referring to Tuesday's missile salvo on Tel Aviv.

"Like it or not, the West supports Israel, and if Israel retaliates, it will be the Iranian people who suffer," he said, speaking to Reuters by phone.

"The regime lacks the financial resources and public support to endure the pressure or a potential strike" by Israel, he said.

Some Iranians believe their government had no choice but to send scores of missiles to Israel on Tuesday - an attack which caused relatively little damage - but fear what comes next.

"If there is a war, I'm just worried for my children," an Iranian mother walking to work past the display of official defiance at Valiasr Square said.

"If we hadn't responded to Israel, they might have continued with their acts of destruction. I just fear for my children."

In an initial panic, some Iranians had stocked up on hard currency in preparation for a war, heading to exchange offices after the Iranian missiles hit Tel Aviv.

"It's not widespread, though," said money changer Mohammad Reza, 52, via phone. "There aren’t lines outside exchange houses. Life mostly carries on as normal."

'VICTORY OR MARTYRDOM'

Iranians have grown accustomed to crisis.

Iran was rocked by a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests two years ago, has suffered years of economic misery under Western sanctions, and been deeply involved in proxy clashes with Israel and the United States through a network of paramilitaries it controls in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and Palestinian territories.

The year-long war between Israel and Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip has intensified Tehran’s and its proxies’ confrontation with an Israel backed by the United States and Western Europe.

Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon this week and its killing of Nasrallah have plunged the region into a new spiral of instability.

Iran’s response to Israeli attacks, including the assassination of commanders of its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria and Lebanon and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil, has so far been mostly muted.

For some Iranians, this is a sign of weakness. They hope a war might weaken Iran’s theocratic government, which many have come to revile for its suppression of women’s rights and for the resources it funnels to its militia proxies in Arab countries while its own economy struggles.

"I’m thrilled because this signals the weakening of the clerical rulers. They are foolish to believe Iran can attack Israel and escape the consequences,” said Samira, a government worker in Tehran.

Many other Iranians, interviewed in public in Tehran, were defiant and supportive of their government.

“I felt happy, I felt a sense of empowerment” watching Iranian ballistic missiles hit Tel Aviv, one woman said. “It showed we can respond.”

Another woman said she believe Israel and the United States would not dare to attack Iran directly.

"We are strong, America won’t dare interfere," she said.

But the new Middle East war has slowly reached boiling point and in public at least, Iran’s government says it is ready to fight.

At Valiasr Square, another banner commemorates Nasrallah. “The path is jihad, and victory or martyrdom,” it reads.