A delicate ceasefire between the United States and Iran has Massachusetts-area Iranians relieved.
Somerville resident Naghmeh Sohrabi is a professor of Middle East history with a focus on modern Iran at Brandeis University. She called the moment a “welcome development,” due to nearly 40 days of missile attacks ending, even temporarily.
“These bombings happen primarily in early hours or in the middle of the night — this has meant that a whole nation and a whole region has not really slept for 40 days,” she said. “So whatever happens with the ceasefire, the fact that people can go out, can go feel a sense of safety and at night get some restful sleep, it’s a good development.”
President Donald Trump on Tuesday agreed to a two-week pause to airstrikes after warning on Truth Social earlier that same morning that “an entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if his demands weren’t met.
One of the tenets of the agreement was to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, a primary oil export route that had been shuttered by Iranian forces.
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again on Wednesday in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which isn’t included in the ceasefire deal, and it is unclear what will happen next.
Both Iran and the U.S. were declaring victory yesterday.
Sohrabi, who came to the U.S. from Iran when she was four years old, said there’s a significant portion of Iran’s population that has been out at night supporting what they see as Iran’s resistance to imperial powers.
“The Islamic Republic has become more stable and more powerful as a result of this war,” she said.
Meanwhile, people are thinking more immediately of how to live, she said, and if that”s even possible as bombs are falling all over their heads.”
Iranians had already protested the previous Khamenei government over economic issues in December. That has gotten worst with the war.
“They’re worried about the price of goods. They’re worried about having their salaries paid,” Sohrabi said, adding that schools are shut down, factories have started laying off workers, and universities have been targeted by Israeli bombings.
GBH News spoke with Saqar, a Northeastern University graduate student in her late 20s who grew up in Iran. GBH News agreed to use only her first name due to fears that her family in Iran will face retribution.
She’s kept in touch with family and friends and says that most people don’t believe the war is over yet.
“We find Trump completely unpredictable. Whether he’s threatening to destroy a civilization or promising help, it’s hard to take him at face value,” said Saqar. “They kind of worry that his ultimate goal isn’t regime change for Iranians, but simply some deal that involves oil prices in global markets.”
Many Iranians, she said, are afraid of what comes after — that the government that crushed Iranians protesting economic conditions under the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will rise again.
“There is a fear that once the international pressure of war fades, the Islamic Republic will turn its focus back inwards to suppress domestic dissent even more harshly,” she said.
The lack of inclusion of Lebanon in the ceasefire deal may be key to having kept the strait open.
“The announcement of a two-week ceasefire is a welcome step but it is partial, fragile, and incomplete,” said David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian relief organization.
“A ceasefire that leaves one front of the conflict burning risks prolonging the crisis, not resolving it,” he said.
