Traveling to Tehran, Iranians report fear, economic crisis and uncertainty regarding the possibility of war with the USA and Israel resuming. Despite popular discontent and day-to-day difficulties, many believe that the conflict ended up reinforcing the Iranian regime.
Flanked by gleaming snow-capped peaks, the long road to Tehran winds through picturesque valleys of Tabriz poplars and fields of green wheat shoots.
We follow the narrow Qotur River, brown and swollen from spring meltwater, as it passes shepherds grazing their shaggy flocks on the hillsides.
In the distance, an impressive railway bridge, with steel girders painted bright white, stretches over the sparkling landscape, seemingly untouched by the US and Israeli attacks that struck and scarred earlier this year.
CNN’s team on the ground in Iran saw a bridge damaged by attacks while heading to Tehran. (CNN)
But amid stalled peace talks and rising tensions due to the continued closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, fears that war could flare up again are fueling a sense of unrest in the country. On CNN’s tour of the country, ordinary Iranians – whom Trump even urged to – described life under bombing and blockade.
“Don’t go there, it’s too dangerous now”, advised a young Iranian woman who was traveling from the United States to Tehran when she heard about our trip through northwestern Iran.
“I have family there, that’s why I’m taking the risk,” she explained, asking not to be identified.
On the side of the road, between kiosks selling pistachios and tea, black posters mourn the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader killed in an airstrike in February, on the first day of the war.
“His shadow has passed over our heads,” says a poster in Farsi, which quotes a popular Persian lament.
His son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, is now the nation’s “standard bearer,” declares another poster, although the younger Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in the same attack, has not been seen or heard from in public since taking power – another sign of how uncertain Iran remains.
“Trump may decide to start the bombings again today,” said an Iranian man.
“Maybe not while he’s in China, but who knows. Trump likes to be in the spotlight,” he added.
As US President Donald Trump embarks on a state visit to China, both the United States and Iran appear to be looking to Beijing as a possible way out of the impasse. Trump is expected to ask China to pressure Iran to reach a compromise. The Iranian ambassador to China also suggested that the communist state could play a powerful mediating role between Washington and Tehran.
The US and China share an interest in unblocking the flow of oil and gas through the Persian Gulf. Furthermore, it could be a shrewd diplomatic move for China to appear to be helping resolve the problems created for the global economy in recent months, potentially allowing Beijing to contrast its behavior with the disruption caused by Washington.
But it is Iranians – a vibrant political force even under the country’s hardline regime – who are likely to decide their country’s future, and on a long drive to the capital there were portraits of the disparate forces at play.
We saw crowds of hikers – young and old – carrying drums of cooking oil by hand across the border into Türkiye. A breathless Iranian pensioner explained how this essential commodity is now six times more expensive in Iran than in Turkey, in the midst of a spiraling cost of living crisis that shows no signs of abating.
Although likely exacerbated by the recent US naval blockade of Iran, cost-of-living issues were at the root of the country-wide anti-government protests that began late last year – leading to a brutal crackdown. Thousands were killed in the state’s response to the demonstrations, Iranian authorities admitted.
At a restaurant on the way to Tehran, in a former caravanserai, or traditional rest house for travelers, we were served rice and spicy kebabs and drank thick, dark coffee in a dining room full of families. Remarkably, the majority of Iranian women in attendance did not wear the hijab, or headscarf — a defiant legacy of the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that forced Iranian authorities to ease strict enforcement of dress codes.
GIF A CNN team on the ground in Iran witnessed trucks near sites damaged by attacks near Tabriz, Iran. CNN
The Iranians have repeatedly shown a willingness to resist, often at great cost, in the face of overwhelming force. But today, the U.S. war with Iran, which Trump in the early days called “his little excursion,” is clearly taking its toll on the Iranian people as they struggle to survive day to day life and prepare for the possibility that attacks will resume.
“I don’t believe that protest, despite the difficulties, is even on the agenda of most Iranians right now,” an Iranian father named Maddy confided as he helped his young daughter wash her hands in the restaurant.
“Trump’s war has silenced people and made the Iranian government stronger. At least for now,” the man added.
