Anxiety bites in Iran and Israel as Trump and the ayatollah appear to stand firm

Iranians are looking forward to the confrontation between President Trump and IranThe rulers step up. In Israel there is also anxiety, as well as preparation. But some Iranians who spoke to News themezone have expressed not only nervousness, but also hope that Trump will make good on his repeated promises to help them change their circumstances.

As at least 10 U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers, headed toward Iran’s coastal waters on Friday, diplomatic efforts by other regional powers to pull Washington and Tehran back from the brink of a military confrontation appear to be failing. making slow progress, if any.

Trump told News themezone’ Jennifer Jacobs on Thursday night that he had had talks with Iran over the past few days and planned to have more, adding, “We have a lot of very large, very powerful ships sailing toward Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”

“I told you two things,” Trump said of his contacts with Iran. “Number one, no nuclear power. And number two, stop killing protesters.”

News themezone has asked the White House for clarification on any ongoing direct negotiations between the Trump administration and Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted earlier this week by state media as saying he had had no contact with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in recent days, although he said the two sides remained in contact through intermediaries. The Swiss embassy in Tehran, along with mediators such as Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, have facilitated communications between Iran and the United States.

Iran’s leaders have long said they are open to direct negotiations with the United States, but that the country will not engage in talks as long as Washington threatens military action unless Tehran agrees to preconditions. Tehran has also refused to accept a ban on uranium enrichment within its borders (for what it claims is an entirely peaceful nuclear program) or limitations on its non-nuclear ballistic missile program.

With neither side offering concessions, at least publicly, the Iranians must wait and try to prepare for a possible new military confrontation with a superpower. And they do so under extraordinary circumstances, even for a country where life has been difficult for decades.

Most Iranians take Trump’s threats seriously, but communicating with the outside world, and even within their country, is incredibly difficult right now. Since the Iranian government launched an offensive to quell protests that shook the country for two weeks in early January, phone and internet connections have been largely blocked.

Like Trump threatens Iran with “great destruction”“Many people in Tehran have been stockpiling all the basic goods they can. But that is more difficult than ever. Store shelves are fully stocked, but already severe sanctions, intensified by Trump, have plunged Iran into an economic crisis that has sent prices soaring.

Record inflation and a staggering depreciation of the local currency mean that even Iranians with stable jobs can barely afford the essentials. The government, in its struggle for liquidity, has also steadily increased the cost of public services.

So for many, many Iranians, simply putting food on the table, let alone storing it, has become a struggle.

Nahid, 25, told News themezone that he earned a college degree, but works in a cafe in Tehran for a low salary and lives with his parents, “because I don’t earn enough to live separately.”

“I see that my father has been shopping for food and other necessities and is advising the entire family to prepare for much more difficult days,” she said Thursday.

“I don’t want the United States to come and liberate us, because it is the job of our own people,” he said. “But I want President Trump to back up what he has already said: that if the regime kills people… he will intervene and help the Iranians. He should at least keep his word, otherwise the Iranian people will remember him as a liar.”

Tehran taxi driver Mohammed, 35, told News themezone he is struggling to support his wife and two young children as the dire economy and recent unrest on the streets of the capital have wiped out the business, cutting his income in half.

“I want President Trump to keep his promise to the Iranian people, when he told protesters to keep up, because help is on the way,” he said. “The people protesting in the streets were peaceful and had no weapons, but the police and Basij [paramilitary] “The forces violently attacked the people and shot many defenseless people.”

But there are some Iranians who, like their leaders, remain publicly defiant and insist that the United States – with its thousands of troops stationed across the region, within range of Iranian missiles – would pay a high price for any strike ordered by President Trump.

“The United States can’t do anything,” said Hai Morteza Armani, 67, a shopkeeper in Tehran’s sprawling central bazaar who described himself to News themezone as a devout Muslim and government supporter.

“President Trump has said a lot of nonsense that he forgot the next day, and these recent comments of his against the Islamic Republic of Iran are just baseless threats,” he declared. “If the Americans do any harm to our leader, we will kill as many American soldiers as possible, and they know our missile capabilities and fear them. That’s why they won’t do anything.”

However, Trump ordered military action against Iran just seven months ago, joining Israel as it fought a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic and ordering strikes on three of the country’s most sensitive nuclear facilities.

In Israel, rumors of war.

Memories of that war are still fresh in Israeli minds, and the exchange of threats between Tehran and Washington has renewed feelings of anxiety and put people on alert.

While Israel’s air defenses proved incredibly effective during that war, air raid sirens drove Israelis to shelter in place on countless occasions, and fears of another round of confrontation have grown in the past two weeks.

The governments of Israel and Iran have long considered each other archenemies, with most Israelis reserving their ire for the regime in Tehran. There was much sympathy in the country for the protesters in Iran, and President Trump’s pledge to persecute the rulers of the Islamic Republic and protect the Iranian population was met with considerable support in Israel.

As American warships approach, Israeli media headlines have focused for weeks on the prospect of a new American attack on Iran, and the likelihood that it will bear the brunt of Tehran’s retaliation as America’s closest ally in the region.

Some municipalities have already announced the reopening of public bomb shelters. Several airlines have canceled flights to Israel and hotels are reporting that tourists are canceling reservations. People are stocking up on food and bottled water.

But there have yet been no special instructions from the government or the Home Front Command, which sends alerts to citizens based on real-time threat assessments from Israeli security services.

In the absence of such clear instructions, and as the rhetoric of both Trump and Iranian officials is characteristically high on drama but low on detail, rumors spread quickly in Israel. Everyone seems to know someone who knows someone who “knows something.”

Daily conversations among Israelis often revolve around claims that they have some knowledge of a U.S. attack coming within hours or days, or debates about whether vacations and other events should be postponed.

But no one, neither in Tehran nor in Tel Aviv, really knows what is coming.