January 30, 2026
Ali Reza Nemati
An
Iranian woman looks at an electronic board displayed outside a currency
exchange shop in downtown Tehran, Iran, on January 20, 2026, following recent
unrest in Iran.
In late December, the Iranian
people began to protest the nation’s deteriorating economy. The protests began
in the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, where shopkeepers went on strike and closed down
their stores. Soon, people who couldn’t afford to buy groceries joined the
protests. The number of protesters was small, but protests occurred across
almost the entire country, with people defending their inalienable right to
eat.
A month ago, you could have purchased beef for the price of 1,900,000 tomans (or about $15), which still wasn’t affordable to everyone, but more affordable than the 3,100,000 (around $25) tomans it is now. For context, an average Iranian worker earns 11,500,000 tomans (roughly $91) per month. The economic denial of the basic right to eat has driven Iranians to the edge.
The Islamic Republic responded to the protests with an iron fist, neglecting the reasons these people came to the streets in the first place. On January 8 and 9, the Islamic Republic exercised the most lethal force we have seen yet from the state. Government accounts say more than 3,100 people were killed in the protests, but eyewitnesses recount a different story.
The government’s brutal response to the protests comes only six months after an intense war with Israel, in which more than a thousand Iranians were killed. Now, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens further military action, the sense of exhaustion is palpable.
You succumb, because you have no choice. Someone I spoke to told me: “It doesn’t matter to me who kills me. Whether it’s (Donald) Trump or (Masoud) Pezeshkian. I go to sleep every night, wishing American missiles would rain down on Tehran. It’d end my misery anyway.” And now, as Trump’s threats of war return, people are fleeing the cities, fearing another military assault could be worse than the strikes from the U.S. government last June.
On January 8, at 10 pm local time, the government of Iran shut down the internet. According to a Cloudflare report, 98.5 percent of the users in Iran didn’t have access to internet. To make matters even worse, they cut cell signals too.
You couldn’t call your parents to inform them you’re alive. You couldn’t even text your loved ones.
A day later, they brought back cell signals but blocked the messaging service. This only increased the feeling that we are their captives as they continued to kill people in the streets.
Here is how my life has changed since then:
I wake up every day and make my bed three times. Then I go to rearrange the kitchen cabinets. I change the order of my spices, clean the fridge, and then I realize that it’s still 11 in the morning.
So, I scrub the tiles of my apartment three times. The carpet in my living room has exactly 972 woven flowers.
Because we don’t have working internet in Iran, I watch whatever movies or series I have downloaded in the past. I put the flash drive in my TV and start watching the Lord of The Rings trilogy. That’s a nice way of spending time, isn’t it?
But Albert Einstein was right. Time moves at different speeds. In moments like this, time stops. You keep reminding yourself not to think about the smashed brains you have seen in the streets, but your mind automatically returns to them. Suddenly, staring at the 972 woven flowers on your carpet stops being the distraction you were hoping for. So, you start smoking. You think half a pack is enough, but that doesn’t cut it. So, you go for the whole pack. You realize you haven’t eaten all day, but you don’t even notice it.
When your fellow citizens can’t put food on their tables, you can’t eat anyway. When they can’t afford to buy meat, chicken, or even eggs, you lose the sense of hunger in your body. You go back to sleeping alone, alienated from those around you, because that is what the government wants you to do.
Ali Reza Nemati
As Donald Trump threatens further
military action, the sense of exhaustion in Iran is palpable.
The internet is blocked in Iran,
leaving me — and many others across the country — feeling like a prisoner in my
own home. Why do we have an internet blackout, you ask?
A month ago, you could have purchased beef for the price of 1,900,000 tomans (or about $15), which still wasn’t affordable to everyone, but more affordable than the 3,100,000 (around $25) tomans it is now. For context, an average Iranian worker earns 11,500,000 tomans (roughly $91) per month. The economic denial of the basic right to eat has driven Iranians to the edge.
The Islamic Republic responded to the protests with an iron fist, neglecting the reasons these people came to the streets in the first place. On January 8 and 9, the Islamic Republic exercised the most lethal force we have seen yet from the state. Government accounts say more than 3,100 people were killed in the protests, but eyewitnesses recount a different story.
The government’s brutal response to the protests comes only six months after an intense war with Israel, in which more than a thousand Iranians were killed. Now, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens further military action, the sense of exhaustion is palpable.
You succumb, because you have no choice. Someone I spoke to told me: “It doesn’t matter to me who kills me. Whether it’s (Donald) Trump or (Masoud) Pezeshkian. I go to sleep every night, wishing American missiles would rain down on Tehran. It’d end my misery anyway.” And now, as Trump’s threats of war return, people are fleeing the cities, fearing another military assault could be worse than the strikes from the U.S. government last June.
On January 8, at 10 pm local time, the government of Iran shut down the internet. According to a Cloudflare report, 98.5 percent of the users in Iran didn’t have access to internet. To make matters even worse, they cut cell signals too.
You couldn’t call your parents to inform them you’re alive. You couldn’t even text your loved ones.
A day later, they brought back cell signals but blocked the messaging service. This only increased the feeling that we are their captives as they continued to kill people in the streets.
Here is how my life has changed since then:
I wake up every day and make my bed three times. Then I go to rearrange the kitchen cabinets. I change the order of my spices, clean the fridge, and then I realize that it’s still 11 in the morning.
So, I scrub the tiles of my apartment three times. The carpet in my living room has exactly 972 woven flowers.
Because we don’t have working internet in Iran, I watch whatever movies or series I have downloaded in the past. I put the flash drive in my TV and start watching the Lord of The Rings trilogy. That’s a nice way of spending time, isn’t it?
But Albert Einstein was right. Time moves at different speeds. In moments like this, time stops. You keep reminding yourself not to think about the smashed brains you have seen in the streets, but your mind automatically returns to them. Suddenly, staring at the 972 woven flowers on your carpet stops being the distraction you were hoping for. So, you start smoking. You think half a pack is enough, but that doesn’t cut it. So, you go for the whole pack. You realize you haven’t eaten all day, but you don’t even notice it.
When your fellow citizens can’t put food on their tables, you can’t eat anyway. When they can’t afford to buy meat, chicken, or even eggs, you lose the sense of hunger in your body. You go back to sleeping alone, alienated from those around you, because that is what the government wants you to do.
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