In Tehran, exhausted Iranians are caught between war and the shadow of war

In Tehran, exhausted Iranians are caught between war and the shadow of war Submitted by MEE correspondent on Mon, 06/01/2026 - 14:01 Fear that war will return and hope that it will really end are in equal supply, but very few in Iran trust Trump Iranian women walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran on 1 June 2026 (Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters) Off Afshin, a 38-year-old living in Tehran, speaks for many Iranians when he describes how he’s feeling, over three months after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran . “We’re exhausted,” he says. “It’s either been war since last summer, or the shadow of war.