Iran was always on his mind, but now Ali is truly worried

The regime shows no mercy. Ali has not heard from his friends in Iran for some time. Phone calls with his parents are brief. ‘I was never worried before, but now the silence is gnawing at me.’

‘These days, anyone walking down the street with a bandage on their hand is already considered suspicious,’ says 33-year-old Ali. The recently graduated Hanze student shared his story in July 2025, after Israel carried out air strikes on his homeland, Iran. ‘People rallied around the flag. We were attacked by another country, so many Iranians felt this was not the moment to talk about internal divisions.’ That feeling, however, faded quickly. ‘People soon returned to their usual anger about the failing economy.’

‘Inflation is so high that even shopkeepers no longer know what prices to charge’

Anger reached a boiling point in early January, when shopkeepers in the capital, Tehran, were forced to close their shops because of soaring inflation. ‘When I lived in Iran five years ago, prices for milk, sugar and vegetables would rise by 20 or 30 cents every month. Now inflation is so extreme that even shopkeepers no longer know what prices to charge.’ Discontent spread rapidly across the country, with people taking to the streets everywhere. They are demanding the departure of the Islamic clerical leaders who have ruled Iran since 1979. Protesters are angry about the lack of political freedom and the dire economic situation. The Iranian human rights organisation HRANA reports that at least 5,500 demonstrators have been killed since protests began on 28 December, and that the deaths of more than 17,000 others are under investigation. Time Magazine cites sources estimating the death toll at more than 30,000.

‘It felt like everyone kept asking: which side are you on?’

‘Protests in Iran come in waves,’ Ali says. He vividly remembers the first major demonstration. ‘It was in 2009, when there were rumours of large-scale election fraud. I was in my first year at the time, and clashes broke out on campus between police and students.’ Ali did not protest himself, but he was constantly asked who he had voted for. ‘It felt like everyone kept asking: which side are you on? I would reply that I had only just turned eighteen and was not allowed to vote.’

Since then, calm has never truly returned to Iran. ‘In 2017 and 2019, rising prices once again sparked mass protests, although the regime tried to keep bread and fuel affordable through subsidies.’ At the time, the government announced a monthly allowance of seven euros per household in an attempt to ease tensions. ‘To us, seven euros sounds like a joke. But in Iran, an average household lives on around 200 dollars a month. Then seven euros is not insignificant.’

In brief phone calls with his parents, Ali has no time to hear what life in Iran is really like

For Ali, the current situation feels different. ‘Normally, I am not this worried. My parents live in a quiet neighbourhood and are not politically active. But now the silence is gnawing at me.’ The regime has shut down the internet. ‘For the first ten days, I heard nothing from my parents. We speak every week, but now they can only call me using a small, expensive data bundle. I also never know when they will get in touch.’ During such calls, there is little time to talk. ‘In ten minutes, we cover the essentials, but there is no time to hear what life in Iran is really like.’

He has not heard from his friends for weeks. ‘My messages no longer get through. You then face a choice: you can keep waiting and hoping, but that quickly makes you depressed. So I am forced to look away and try to carry on with my life.’ Both options feel wrong. ‘That is what repression does to people.’

‘Without a shared goal, the price is too high for most people’

What troubles him further is that the protests are now smaller in scale than at the beginning. ‘For real change, you need an idea that brings everyone together. In 2022, there was such a moment when Mahsa Amini was killed for not wanting to wear a headscarf.’ According to Ali, that sense of unity is now lacking. ‘If you tell someone that perhaps twenty thousand people would have to die for a regime change, most will say: are you mad? Without a shared goal, the price is too high for most people.’

Meanwhile, the world is watching as US President Trump sends warships to the region. ‘Foreign intervention could certainly have an impact, but I do not think it is the best way to achieve lasting change,’ says Ali, referring to lessons from the past. ‘In Afghanistan and Iraq, the Americans did not create stable governance. Even if the regime were overthrown, years of repression have wiped out any real opposition. The son of the former Shah of Iran is not popular among young people.’ He believes there is often a mistaken image of Iran abroad. ‘It is not a single, unified entity. With ninety million inhabitants, dozens of ethnic groups and major regional differences, it is impossible for everyone to think the same way or be willing to take the same risks.’

Ali is both sceptical and hopeful. ‘For the next five years, I honestly do not see any fundamental change, unless something extremely drastic happens. But people will certainly keep taking to the streets… one day, the regime will fall.’

Photo: Zereshk at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

For security reasons, Ali’s surname has been omitted.