Life in Iran after six months of war

0:00Fall is right around the corner. That means the midterms. Hey, it's Miles Parks from the NPR Politics Podcast. Now is the perfect time to calibrate your news diet for the fall. Follow our show for short daily episodes that will help you stay ahead of the most important midterm storylines that you need to follow. Find the NPR Politics Podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today on State of the World, life in Iran after six months of war.

0:33You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. It has been six months since the U.S. and Israel launched a war in Iran. In that time, the effects of the conflict in the United States can be felt in higher fuel prices and extended deployment for some members of the military. In Iran, the war is felt more acutely. Economic exhaustion and an atmosphere of fear have left virtually no part of Iranian existence untouched. Civilians have had to adapt to an intensifying wave of state repression and a collapsing domestic economy.

1:13NPR's Hadil al-Shalchi has been speaking to people inside Iran to understand what their lives are like. As some of them told her, the violence from the government can often start at dawn. In Iran, the early morning Muslim call to prayer has turned into a death march that can signal a public execution.

1:41Those are protesters booing the call to prayer minutes before two people accused of treason are hanged on July 28th in a main square in Isfahan in central Iran.

1:54In a video posted online, they shout shame, shame at the executioners. 20-year-old Ali Reza was one of those there that day. Like all the Iranians NPR spoke to for this report, he asked not to use his full name for fear of retribution from the government. Ali Reza remembers a desperate protester on her knees, wailing.

2:16I can never forget she was begging the soldier to stop it. Stop the execution, he says. Ali Reza saw the victims coming out of the van.

2:27They walked with difficulty like their legs and hands were tied slowly with crouched bodies, Alireza says. The video becomes shaky. People scream and run for their lives.

2:42Authorities attacked with batons and shot tear gas, he says. People had to escape so that they could breathe. In six months of war, the rhythm of Iranian life has been rewritten by hardship. and where fear leaves off in Iran, economic exhaustion takes over. A 30-year-old blogger says nearly all of her income goes towards buying food.

3:06We are buying all of our food items on credit, she says, because nobody has cash. The inflation rate in Iran is at almost 90%. Among friends, this is our big topic of conversation. Where can you find the cheapest provision? I'm so in debt to my grocery store that the other day I couldn't buy tomato paste to make pasta for dinner. My human dignity is non-existent now.

3:39She prays she doesn't get sick. The price of medicines has skyrocketed.

3:46A doctor's visit, paying for an IV, injections or medicines can ruin you financially, she says. 50-year-old Sara lives in Tehran. She's an asthmatic and knows this all too well. She's worried she won't be able to afford her inhaler anymore. The price has jumped from$5 to$15, she says. Even though it's a domestic brand, it's very hard to track down and store, Sara says. She says she's worried these hardships will spark even more public unrest and maybe even more protests. I'm really scared of the harm the state might cause people because of those protests, Zara says. Not all Iranians want to overthrow the regime and many oppose foreign intervention.

4:31But senior Middle East Institute fellow Alex Vatanka says six months of war has made it even harder for those who do oppose the regime. Just coming down the streets and confronting the security forces as legitimate that might be is not enough. because you're dealing with an animal that is willing to kill you. Executions have always been a fear tactic used by the regime. But in six months of war, the United Nations says there is a sudden spike with fewer fair trials. It's said that since March 19th, at least 56 people have been executed on national security-related charges, including 27 people in cases linked to protests at the start of the year.

5:08Vatanka says there needs to be ways to weaken the system from within. You need a political agenda. You need to start peel off members of the regime, including the security forces. You need probably look for ways to engineer, you know, high-profile defections. The U.S.-based human rights activist news agency, which tracks Iran, says it has confirmed more than 7 ,000 people who were killed when the Iranian authorities cracked down on protesters calling for an end to the regime at the start of this year. They estimate tens of thousands more were arrested. But 20-year-old Ali Reza, who still insists on protesting, is not giving up.

5:47For Ali Reza, the protests are proof that resistance is still alive and that many people still care. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Istanbul.

6:00That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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