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For the first time in 39 days, the night crept forward in Tehran without the sounds of warplanes overhead.
At about 3am local time on Wednesday, Iranians began to hear reports of a two-week conditional ceasefire between their country and the US. Instead of heading straight to bed, Pouya took his motorbike and cruised around the streets of the capital.
“The city was silent and sleepy,” Pouya, who is in his 30s, told The National. “I passed by several destroyed buildings. There was an interesting kind of quiet.”
The day before, he had described missiles flying very low over the city, which he felt was intended to “create fear and stress”, as Israel confirmed attacks on civilian infrastructure, including bridges. US President Donald Trump threatened that Iran’s civilisation would “die” if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping by the evening.
For many Iranians, terrified that their country would be further ruined if Mr Trump followed up on his threat, news of the ceasefire was welcome.
“I hope it is permanent and the war is over, and we can get back to our own civil life and struggles,” Pouya said.
Before the war, one of the most violent episodes of conflict in Iran’s modern history, Iranians had already endured a crackdown on anti-government protests in January that left at least 7,000 people dead, according to human rights groups outside the country. Inflation of almost 70 per cent had squeezed living conditions, with the price of essentials such as cooking oil and eggs spiralling out of many people’s reach.
At the same time, many are sceptical about the ceasefire’s longevity, and whether the US and Iran will be able to reach a long-term agreement to avoid further conflict. Many also believe that the new Iranian leadership installed during the war, to replace officials killed in US and Israeli strikes, is more radical than what came before and will crack down harder than ever on dissent.
“You may not believe it, but now we don't know whether to be happy that the infrastructure has not been struck, or to be sad that the Iranian extremists are going to take revenge on the people,” a man in northern Iran told The National.
Since the war began, Iranian authorities have arrested more than 1,500 people, some accused of sharing information with foreign media. At least six people have been executed on charges related to their alleged involvement in January’s protests, and human rights groups warn that many more face the same fate.
“The extremists believe that the people caused the war,” and so may “put more pressure” on the public, the man in northern Iran said.
The US and Iran each put forward proposals for a longer term agreement to end the fighting, and mediator Pakistan said talks would be held in its capital Islamabad, without specifying a timeline.
Some Iranians support the idea of a negotiated solution but are cautious about the chances of success because of the wide gaps between the two sides’ negotiating positions. Iran wants recognition of its control of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway to its south through which about 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas supplies pass.
Attacks on shipping throughout the war have largely prevented ships from crossing the strait, causing a global surge in energy prices, and many analysts believe Iran now sees its ability to control the waterway as strategic leverage.
Tehran also wants compensation from the US and the withdrawal of American troops from the entire region – conditions that Washington is highly unlikely to agree to. Mr Trump said Iran's plan was a “workable basis on which to negotiate”, suggesting a willingness to engage, if not on all the points that Iran is demanding. Both the US and Iran have claimed victory in the war.
“We need to see how the negotiations go,” a businessman in Tehran told The National. “The two sides want to negotiate from a position of power, which makes the job difficult.”
Aware of the widespread fallout from the conflict, which dragged in almost the entire Middle East, he said both sides had “paid a high price” and that people across the whole region had “suffered a lot”.
The businessman, who had supported the 2015 nuclear agreement from which Mr Trump withdrew in his first term, said it was unlikely that the US President would be able to secure better terms. “He criticised [former US president Barack] Obama for this good agreement so much. Then he withdrew from it, and the problems began,” he said.
Mr Trump has consistently lauded his decision to withdraw from the 2015 agreement, which involved a partial lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear energy programme. But efforts to secure a new pact during Mr Trump's second term have so far failed.
Many Iranians are also are sceptical that Israel will abide by the ceasefire. The country said on Wednesday morning that it had halted attacks on Iran, but not on the Tehran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
“There is no trust in the agreement, because each one is telling a contradictory story,” the man in northern Iran said. “It is possible that the US will step aside and Israel will continue. Anything is possible.”
For others, the idea of diplomacy is a moot point as long as the US speaks to Iran, a country in which the ideas of dignity and respect are paramount, using coarse language. In his posts on social media, Mr Trump has repeatedly used expletives and threats to try to convince Iran to end the conflict and open the Strait of Hormuz.
“It’s not that the Iranian people love war, or that they like to be in conflict all the time,” Mohammad Ali Sayedhanaee, a Tehran-based analyst, told The National. “But the reality is that Iranians cannot accept being humiliated.” To solve differences with Iran, he added, the US needs to use “the language of honour, not of threats and violence”.
Mr Sayedhanaee welcomed the ceasefire but said it was “very fragile”, in large part because he believes the US will not be able to control Israel, which “has been waiting for years for this chance to attack Iran”.
With at least a temporary pause in the fighting, Iranians are also trying to come to terms with the effects of the conflict on their lives. At least 3,636 people have been killed since the war began on February 28, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
While the ceasefire took effect before a threatened widespread US assault on Iran’s infrastructure, several of its bridges, railway lines and motorways were struck in the preceding hours, adding to previous attacks that had damaged and destroyed hospitals and medical research sites.
Many are also demanding an end to an almost total internet shutdown that Iranian authorities have imposed since the war started. Only people with access to Starlink satellite devices or able to afford bloated prices for other forms of connection have been able to get online.
“Reconnect the internet today,” prominent Iranian businessman Pedram Soltani wrote on social media. “Small businesses are crumbling.”
The internet blackout also means that Iranians are still unable to check on their loved ones in and outside the country.
One woman wrote on social media, criticising the Iranian government for celebrating a victory and heralding a ceasefire while many citizens remain offline.
“Mr Islamic Republic, you talk about a ceasefire with America, but at the same time you have kept your own people in silence and isolation,” she wrote. “Be ashamed of this contradiction and cruelty.”
