Hope and anger in Iran as fragile ceasefire persists
Messages from Iran International viewers inside the country reveal a society grappling with a mix of hope, anger and deep uncertainty as a fragile ceasefire with the United States persists.
Messages from Iran International viewers inside the country reveal a society grappling with a mix of hope, anger and deep uncertainty as a fragile ceasefire with the United States persists.
Officials in Washington and Tehran are now considering extending the truce, raising new questions about whether the pause could evolve into a broader settlement or simply delay further confrontation.
The roughly 3,500 messages received and reviewed since April 8 show a wide array of emotions, with no single voice or issue dominating.
More than a quarter of the messages expressed hope about what might come next, often framing the ceasefire as a temporary pause rather than a turning point.
Some said they believed the truce was merely a tactical step that would ultimately weaken the Islamic Republic.
“Don’t lose hope. This ceasefire means another surprise is coming. Be patient,” one viewer from Rasht wrote.
Others expressed confidence that outside pressure on the government would continue.
“Trump knows what he’s doing. Don’t worry—there’s a plan behind this ceasefire,” a viewer from Tabriz wrote.
Many messages referred to Prince Reza Pahlavi as a potential focal point for opposition hopes, with some writers saying they were waiting for a “final call” to action.
About 18 percent of the messages focused less on politics and more on daily hardship.
Writers described worsening economic conditions, rising prices for food and medicine, job losses and the effects of the country’s internet shutdown.
A viewer from Karaj said he had paid the equivalent of nearly $20 for a single gigabyte of internet access through unofficial services.
“My business is destroyed,” he wrote.
Another viewer from Mashhad said cancer medicines had become scarce and far more expensive. “People are not well,” the message read.
Nearly 17 percent of the messages expressed deep despair, describing the ceasefire as the collapse of hopes that the conflict might bring fundamental political change.
“The world collapsed on my head,” one message from Tehran read. “We didn’t endure all this hardship just for a ceasefire.”
Others expressed anger at foreign leaders, accusing them of abandoning the Iranian people after raising expectations during the conflict.
Some messages directly criticized President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, using words such as “betrayal” and “deception.”
“Mr. Trump, a ceasefire means betrayal of the blood of thousands of fallen heroes,” one viewer wrote.
Another message addressed the United States more broadly: “We asked you to help free Iran. Instead you left us with a worse situation.”
The messages, sent mainly from cities including Tehran, Mashhad, Karaj, Shiraz, Rasht, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas and Kermanshah, offer a rare glimpse of public sentiment inside Iran at a time of near-total internet blackout.
Most messages were sent by users who managed to reach the global internet through workarounds. Some may have come from individuals with access to government-authorized “white SIM cards,” which allow limited connectivity.
Taken together, the messages portray a society that is exhausted yet resilient.
Many said they opposed any agreement that would leave the Islamic Republic in place. Some said they were prepared to endure further hardship rather than see what they called the “blood of the fallen” go unavenged.
The strongest refrain running through the messages echoed a familiar Persian expression: “Light will prevail over darkness.”
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.