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*Names changed to protect their identities.<\/em><\/p>\n Lancaster, United Kingdom<\/strong> \u2013 Maya* and Daniel* sit in a spare room at Global Link, an NGO helping migrants. Neither has heard from family or friends in Iran since the internet was shut down on January 8 during nationwide antigovernment protests.<\/p>\n Both came to the UK separately: Maya, a graduate student from near the capital, Tehran, six years ago and Daniel, a support worker from Sine in northwestern Iran, three years back. Both have family still in Iran.<\/p>\n Maya has yet to hear from her elderly parents on the outskirts of Karasht near Tehran. How Daniel\u2019s father, who is sick with cancer, is coping remains unknown.<\/p>\n There is still no confirmed death toll for the latest round of unrest to have engulfed Iran since the national currency, the rial, crashed on December 28, leading traders of Tehran\u2019s bazaar to take to the streets to voice their anger in a protest that spread across the country and evolved into a serious challenge to the government.<\/p>\n Speaking on Saturday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei acknowledged that \u201cseveral thousand\u201d people had been killed in the unrest, which he accused the United States and Israel of fuelling. The government has recognised the protesters\u2019 hardships, pledging to address mounting economic grievances, but also said the demonstrations that saw government buildings attacked were later hijacked by \u201cterrorists\u201d and elements trained and armed by outside powers.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a lot of stress,\u201d Daniel said, his measured voice showing some degree of the tension that he and Maya have been living through. Before the communications shutdown, Daniel, who at university had been detained for his pro-democracy activism, learned that a number of his friends had been arrested.<\/p>\n Both Maya and Daniel lived through previous bouts of unrest but believe the demonstrations of recent weeks may mark a sea change in Iran\u2019s direction. \u201cI believe it\u2019s not like before \u2026 because the economy\u2019s collapsed,\u201d Maya said.<\/p>\n She went on to describe those she calls the \u201closers\u201d of Iranian society \u2013 the people, she said, \u201cwho can\u2019t provide a meal for their family. They are tired, you know, fed up of being ashamed in front of their own family, to not be able to provide for them. And if they don\u2019t die in the street, they will die from starving maybe the next year or next six months.\u201d<\/p>\n The inflation rate in Iran is among the highest in the world. Even before the recent collapse of the rial, inflation was about 40 percent as the cost of chronic economic mismanagement and years of crippling Western sanctions conspired to hollow out what was left of Iran\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n Maya spoke of those she used to pass in the metro on her way into Tehran, hawking whatever they could to feed themselves and their families. She recalled one older lady, shaking in humiliation at where she had found herself before overhearing her daughter reassure her. \u201cAnd I realised that was the first time that lady, that middle-aged lady with a teenage girl, has had to do that, and she was ashamed,\u201d Maya said.<\/p>\n Both speak to friends and family members in the United States and Canada. Daniel has one friend in Erbil, the capital of northern Iraq\u2019s semiautonomous Kurdish region, who has been able to talk to people in Iran for a few minutes every morning.<\/p>\n They have both heard unverified rumours, including militias patrolling the streets of Iran\u2019s towns and authorities charging family members $3,000 \u2013 the price, they allege, of a bullet \u2013 before allowing them to recover relatives\u2019 bodies.<\/p>\n They have also heard of the the desire of Reza Pahlavi \u2013 the son of Iran\u2019s last shah who was toppled by the Islamic revolution of 1979 \u2013 to return to Iran before dismissing the royal claimant as simply past rubbish that the country had already thrown away.<\/p>\n \u201cDay and night are connected for us,\u201d Maya said, describing how time loses all meaning in the absence of news from home.<\/p>\n Mornings no longer feel like the start of a new day so much as the continuation of the past night, she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a continuous morning because you\u2019re waiting for your parents, or you\u2019re waiting for news because I don\u2019t know what will happen,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Maya described the uncertainty as a permanent presence, like a looming deadline, that refuses to shift despite the temporary distractions of friends or socialising. \u201cYou might have the best ever meal, but you don\u2019t enjoy it fully because in the back of your head, you\u2019re worried about things.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel leaned forward, his voice breaking, \u201cI stop everything, you know. \u2026 Every time I am on the phone and try to ring to Iran, and I try. \u2026 Life is up to me, and my job is going very, very badly. \u2026 Every time I\u2019m unconscious that, yeah, when I sleep, I have a very, very bad dream, and yeah, everything is very bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither Maya nor Daniel knows how things will pan out. Even if the government falls, the economic conditions would remain desperate. There are also too many factions, both domestic and international, interested in gaining power.<\/p>\n Current events are like a fever, Maya said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have a high fever, [you] can\u2019t function, so revolution is like a fever which burns even after revolution. It\u2019s going to burn everything together and only \u2026 the more powerful one or more brutal one will survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n *Names changed to protect their identities. Lancaster, United Kingdom \u2013 Maya* and Daniel* sit in a spare room at Global Link, an NGO helping migrants. Neither has heard from family or friends in Iran since the internet was shut down on January 8 during nationwide antigovernment protests. Both came to the UK separately: Maya, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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