Two women look over Iran’s capital Tehran.Image: Stone RF
A US attack on Iran seems more likely with every passing day. Six people from Tehran report their fear of the war and their anger at the regime.
Feb 27, 2026, 11:08 p.mFeb 27, 2026, 11:08 p.m
Zahra Mohamadi, Lea Frehse, Amir Karemi, Lara Huck / Zeit Online
A US military strike against Iran seems more likely with every passing day. So far there has been no progress in the negotiations between representatives of both countries. DIE ZEIT spoke to some people from the Iranian capital Tehran about the extremely tense situation and recorded their thoughts, fears and hopes.
Bahar, 38: “I want an intervention if the prisoners are released”
Bahar is a writer. Growing up in a religious family that supports the regime, the young woman has distanced herself from it and has repeatedly taken part in protests in recent years.
I was against the last war last year when Iran was bombed. Experiencing Tehran under bombs broke my heart. Then I saw the regime’s crimes with my own eyes during the protests a few weeks ago. We sat there with no internet, no connection to the outside world, and wanted nothing more than for the US to get rid of this leadership. We said to each other: Let them bomb our houses, but at least the roof should fall on these murderous criminals of the regime.
But those raw, immediate feelings have given way to fear. The closer the war seems, the greater it is. I wake up every night in a panic. So what do I want from America? I only want military intervention if they can arrest Khamenei and the others and bring them to justice. Is that realistic? I doubt it. I want an intervention when the prisoners are released and the executions stop. Only then.
Nima, 41: “It would be a war of attrition”
Nima works in the real estate industry, is unmarried and lives in Tehran. He firmly rejects a military strike against Iran.
Even Trump has probably now understood that you can’t act in Iran like you did in Venezuela or in Iraq. The Islamic Republic cannot be overthrown from outside. To achieve this, we Iranians would have to take to the streets en masse, like in 2009 – but armed. We would have to storm the police stations and millions of people would die.
If the USA attacks now, they say, they will target the electricity and water supplies and the oil facilities. It would be a war of attrition. It would not last twelve days, like last summer, but years, like the Iraq war. Trump is not concerned with protecting the population. And if someone abroad is counting on us taking to the streets here as soon as a foreign attack weakens the regime: you are mistaken. Nobody will leave here anymore. Everyone stays at home and only looks at Trump.
Hamed, 36: “The superiors fear war”
Hamed studied civil engineering but does not have a permanent job. Like so many of his generation, he is financially dependent on his parents and increasingly desperate because of his situation.
A childhood friend of mine is the son of a high-ranking military officer – i.e. the son of an oligarch. Because whoever is at the top of this regime belongs to a rich clique. When the recent protests began, this friend called me and said: «The people can go to hell. I’m ready to shoot them all.”
When the protests were suppressed, he called again and said, proud as a child: “Did you see? We won!” These are the people we’re dealing with.
But I heard the fear in the words of this former friend. I think the higher ups fear war. When the time comes, they will try to escape. This friend, for example, has long been trying to get a visa for Great Britain. It will be like when the Shah was overthrown. The key figures will defect and then the lower ranks will defect. But will it come to that? It’s a bizarre situation: everything depends on what the boss, Trump, plans to do with us.
Reza, 40, Eli, 37, and Farshad, 37: “This war must not happen”
Reza, Eli and Farshad have known each other since school days and belong to the upper middle class in Tehran. They all think war is likely – but are divided on it.
Reza: If there is war, then we are lost. Because Trump has no plan for what will follow this regime. If the regime stays, we are lost too. Actually the only question is: Are we going to perish quickly or slowly?
Eli: That’s not true! We’re not dying a slow death here. We live. But in war we die a thousand deaths. With every bomb that fell here in the summer, I thought: Now I’m dying. And Trump doesn’t help anyone here, he just drives everyone crazy.
Farshad: This war must not happen. Remember last summer: Israel bombed quite accurately, and that was bad enough. If America attacks, it will be much more destructive. In the end, I bet Trump will make a deal with someone to take power here. Maybe it’s Reza Pahlavi (the son of the deposed Shah, editor’s note), maybe someone from the regime itself.
Eli: I don’t support Pahlavi. I didn’t take to the streets for him, but because I’m fed up with the situation here. But if Pahlavi comes to power, it will definitely be better than with Khamenei.
Farshad: Pahlavi is nothing but a puppet of the USA and Israel! If he does, then others will simply plunder our resources.
Mohadese, 24: “No one will be able to live in peace”
Mohadese is a student at the University of Tehran and comes from Afghanistan. After the Taliban regained power there, she did everything in her power to escape an arranged marriage. Studying in Tehran was her way out.
I really don’t want there to be war – because I’m sure Iran’s fate will be the same as Afghanistan’s. We have seen this cycle before when the US came and attacked Afghanistan to save it from the Taliban. But after twenty years they handed the country back to the Taliban and left – and now they pay them money every month. When the US attacked, I had just been born.
When the US attacks, it is to exploit Iran’s oil and resources and then leave again. A long, internal war will then break out in Iran, just like between the Taliban and the USA.
All military forces of Iran and the Basij of the Islamic Republic (armed volunteer militia, editor’s note) will tear the country apart with bombings and suicide attacks and kill the Iranian people in order to regain power. The Taliban fighters grew up in the mountains and didn’t know the cities, but the Basij in Iran know every street and every alley, and no one in these cities will be able to live in peace.
This article was first published on Zeit Online. Watson may have changed headings and subheadings. Click here for the original.