According to officials and analysts cited in a Reuters report, Iranian authorities are now attempting to manage heightened political and social tensions following the end of hostilities, with a memorandum expected to be signed later this week outlining an interim arrangement between Tehran and Washington.

The report said hard-line factions within Iran, including elements of the Revolutionary Guards and allied political groups, view the outcome of the confrontation as a strategic success and are pushing for continued military strengthening and a firm negotiating position in any future talks with the United States.

At the same time, Iranian citizens are described as facing severe economic hardship, including high inflation, currency depreciation and unemployment, with widespread expectations that any sanctions relief or access to frozen assets will be directed toward improving living standards and rebuilding infrastructure damaged during the conflict.

Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said the end of the war could intensify domestic challenges for the clerical leadership, noting that public expectations for economic improvement may rise sharply as military tensions ease.

Reuters also cited Iranian officials as saying that any financial relief under the interim arrangement would likely be allocated to economic stabilisation measures, including support for banking liquidity and reconstruction, while acknowledging risks of renewed public unrest if conditions do not improve.

The report said Iran’s leadership is aware of the potential for renewed protests, recalling previous large-scale demonstrations in 2022–2023, and that authorities have historically relied on strict security measures to suppress dissent during periods of instability.

Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian economist and political analyst, said Iran faces a limited window to stabilise internal conditions, while noting that broader sanctions relief tied to long-term economic recovery would depend on a more comprehensive agreement with the United States.

The report added that divisions within Iran’s political establishment persist over the direction of post-war policy, with some factions prioritising economic recovery and others advocating for continued confrontation and military expansion.

Analysts also noted that tensions between reformist and hard-line elements may shape the government’s ability to manage expectations, particularly as debates continue over Iran’s foreign policy direction and internal governance following the conflict.

Social media-based eyewitnesses report that security officers use drugs in the bushes around the apartment buildings to prepare themselves for the attack on residents

“It’s a strange world, sweetheart,” said one of modern Iran’s greatest poets Ahmad Shamlou, when he highlighted paradoxes in the post-revolution Iran a few decades ago.

But Shamlou did not imagine in his wildest dreams the paradoxes that characterize Iran in 2022, during its largest protest and uprising in its modern history.

A strange world where as soon as darkness falls, thugs attack residential neighborhoods, where they throw tear gas canisters into apartment buildings while men and women chant the antigovernment slogan “Women, Life, Liberty” from their windows.

In previous centuries, if governments did not like someone they sent him to exile to deprive him of the comfort he used to enjoy at home. In Iran today, the government bars troublemakers from leaving the country.

Hiding under their helmets, heavily armed security forces use megaphones to scare residents of apartment buildings in West-Tehran by telling them that they are prepared to behead their own family members if they need to.

A witty post on Twitter says, “Their women pray for their husbands to get martyred while their husbands threaten to behead their wives. This is a household quarrel. Why do you shout it over a megaphone?”

Social media-based eyewitnesses report that security officers use drugs in the bushes around the apartment buildings to prepare themselves for the attack on residents. Further down south in Tehran, in Nazi Abad, security forces beat a protester to death before shooting him using a shotgun at point blank. And all this happens in an Islamic Republic where the government was supposed to be merciful and compassionate like Allah, the ruling clerics claim to be worshipping.

Officials including clerics are not supposed to lie and deny police vandalism while numerous videos on social media show policemen destroying people’s property. And in self-defense, the police say these were fake policemen in the streets. “Shame on you if the situation is so chaotic that well-equipped fake policemen are patrolling the streets. And shame on you if they are real policemen who destroy people’s property and you do not want to take responsibility for that,” said one Twitter user. It looks even worse when some officials claim that these are Israeli agents dressed as the Islamic Republic Police.

In a similar case about plainclothes officers attacking, arresting and even shooting the protesters, a Twitter user asked: “These days, if we see an armed plainclothesman at a public place, should we assume that he is a terrorist or a plainclothes security officer? Who are those who have created such a safe environment for armed individuals?”

Government officials including President Ebrahim Raisi and Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Ejei call for dialogue with the nation in a bid to end the protests. At the same time, the same government suspends one of the country’s leading reformist political parties. How can the government tell you that it does not want to be reformed, asked a prominent Iranian journalist.

The government is constantly denying reports about its mischiefs. But few believe such denials. One of the most recent denials came after reports in international media said some Iranian officials were leaving Iran and seeking foreign passports to live somewhere else with their smuggled assets and new identities. Following another denial by the Tehran airport, one Twitter post said: “When they deny a story, that means the news was true.”

For a thousand and one reasons the people no longer trust the government. While the state-run media continue to blame the Islamic State for the attack on Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz, people are adamant that it was the Islamic Republic that engineered the attack. Meanwhile, many have noticed flaws and production errors in the footage provided by the state media in the aftermath of the attack. One particular scene many have noticed shows a “dead man” rising, looking at his watch and pretending to be dead again.

And as Iran’s Foreign Minister acknowledged that Iran has given drones to Russia, but not for use in the war against Ukraine, a comment under his tweet asked: “You mean Russia has ordered so many drones for entertainment amid a major political and economic crisis?” and another one said: “”So, you gave the drones to Russia and told them not to use them. Like giving an ice cream to a child and telling him not to lick it.”

Article first published on Iran International.

Behrouz Turani is the author of Iranian Media, A Non-Linear History. He has been advising governments on both sides of the Atlantic during the past three decades as a senior Iran expert.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.