The Markaz Review:

Iranians pause to reflect and reassess after the intense bombing of the 12-day war, when basic goods like oil and rice disappeared from store shelves and bank accounts were hacked, leaving many without money. An older generation still believes in “patience and faith,” while a more pragmatic generation of Iranians, like Amir’s, is caught between loving the culture and wanting real change in their country, pulled between polar opposites of wishing to stay and wanting to leave. Meanwhile the Islamic Republic takes out its failures and frustrations on the Iranian people, with arrests and executions.

Amir

It’s the morning after Iran and Israel announced a ceasefire.

As always, the anti-aircraft sirens sound tired and worn out, cutting through the night unexpectedly and pulling me, without thinking, out onto the balcony. My eyes follow the glowing trails across the sky. I spot a small bright dot far away. I wonder — maybe it’s a drone, or something trying to escape. I look more closely: no, it’s a star. Still, quiet, unmoved.

Maybe we’re the ones who have changed — not the star. Maybe that soldier firing at the sky also mistook a star for a drone. Or maybe none of us can tell the difference anymore.

These past 12 days have changed everything. We’re not the same people we were before. It’s like someone whose house has collapsed in an earthquake, now searching through the rubble for an old diary.

It was a war we still don’t know when exactly began or ended. And now we’ll carry it with us for the rest of our lives, always asking: Who are we? Why did we lose? Why does the government claim victory, after so many failures?

How can someone look into a mirror, maimed and bloody and still ask, “Did you see how well I hit them?”

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