ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Another generation of Iranians are seeing their lives turned upside down by the threat of war after Tehran’s overnight attack on Israel struck fear in their hearts and hammered the value of Iran’s currency.
Iran launched a massive aerial assault of hundreds of drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles towards Israel on Saturday night, marking the culmination of two weeks of threats by Tehran that it would retaliate for an attack on its embassy in Damascus. Iran blamed Israel, which has not claimed responsibility. Iran’s political and military leaders have said that the overnight barrage is the extent of its operation, signaling that they do not want an escalation while reserving the right to respond if Israel carries out another attack.
Reports of an expected Iranian retaliation were received with jokes and memes on social media, until they saw the missiles and drones flying over the skies of their cities. As the attack happened, the value of the Iranian toman against the US dollar fell to 70,000, down from an already unprecedented low of 64,000 a week before.
Like many Iranian youth, Milad Ahmadi*, 26, from the Kurdish city of Saqqez, has never witnessed war. He was planning to open a clothing store with two friends. They were about to purchase stock ahead of opening their shop, until the attack started.
“When I saw the missiles, their deafening noise and the news of the depreciation of the toman kept me and my two partners from sleeping,” Ahmadi told Rudaw English.
“We have been planning to open a store for almost a year. With a bank loan and money from the family, we decided to buy the goods next week. But in a few hours, our currency lost several percent of its value, while the goods we buy depend on the dollar. Now I witness the pain of war for the first time,” he said.
In 2015, the toman was about 4,000 against the US dollar.
For older generations who witnessed the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s, the news of another possible conflict brought back bitter memories of losing their loved ones. Many of them are anxious and worried about a new war and do not want to relive days of displacement and grief.
“The Iran-Iraq war turned my youth into hell. Our village was destroyed and several of my relatives were killed. My family and I were forced to flee to other Iranian cities such as Tehran and Isfahan,” said Nawkhas Muradi, a 70-year-old man from Kermanshah, which was on the frontlines of the eight-year-long war between Iraq and Iran.
“That war made youth bitter for thousands of people like me and we grew old with sorrow. There are still remnants of that war and many places have not been rebuilt,” he said.
The depreciation of the toman, the COVID pandemic, and crippling US sanctions have resulted in mass unemployment and accelerating inflation rates in Iran, especially in the country’s long-impoverished Kurdish provinces where they are not at war, but feel as if they are.
Simko, a 35-year-old laborer from the city of Sanandaj (Sina), says the difficult economic situation and the high cost of living mean he cannot earn a steady income or afford to get married.
“There has indeed been no war for the past few years, but the Iranian people, especially the youth, have been in a situation like being at war. I am a laborer myself but I have not been able to get married yet. Rents are going up several times every year,” he said.
Simko said he feels like it would be better if there is a war.
“At least we can say there is a war and we are in crisis,” he said. “If war breaks out, it would be better. So hopefully we can die and be saved from this life.”
*Names have been changed to protect their identity.