JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It has been six months since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran. Economic exhaustion and widespread 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. As NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi reports, the violence can often start at dawn.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Singing in non-English language).
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: In Iran, the early morning Muslim call to prayer has turned into a death march that can signal a public execution.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Singing in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Boo.
AL-SHALCHI: Those are protesters booing the call to prayer minutes before two people accused of treason are hanged on July 28 in a main square in Isfahan in central Iran.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in non-English language).
AL-SHALCHI: In a video posted online, they shout shame, shame at the executioners. Twenty-year-old Alireza 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. Alirezza remembers a desperate protester on her knees wailing.
ALIREZA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "I can never forget. She was begging the soldier to stop it. Stop the execution," he says. Alirezza saw the victims coming out of the van.
ALIREZA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "They walked with difficulty like their legs and hands were tied, slowly with crouched bodies," Alirezza says. The video becomes shaky. People scream and run for their lives.
ALIREZA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "Authorities 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.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "We are buying all of our food items on credit," she says, "because nobody has cash." The inflation rate in Iran is at almost 90%.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Through interpreter) Among friends, this is our big topic of conversation. Where can you find the cheapest provisions? 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 nonexistent now.
AL-SHALCHI: She prays she doesn't get sick. The price of medicines has skyrocketed.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: A doctor's visit, paying for an IV, injections or medicines can ruin you financially, she says. Fifty-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.
SARA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: 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.
SARA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "I'm really scared of the harm the state might cause people because of those protests," Sara says.
Not all Iranians want to overthrow the regime, and many oppose foreign intervention. But senior Middle East Institute fellow Alex Vatanka says six months of war has made it even harder for those who do oppose the regime.
ALEX VATANKA: 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.
AL-SHALCHI: 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 said that since March 19, 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. Vatanka says there needs to be ways to weaken the system from within.
VATANKA: 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.
AL-SHALCHI: The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists 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. The 20-year-old Alirezza, who still insists on protesting, is not giving up.
ALIREZA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: For Alirezza, the protests are proof that resistance is still alive and that many people still care.
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Istanbul. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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