Iran International
A temporary ceasefire between the United States and Iran has triggered anger and cautious hope among Iranians who sent messages to Iran International, with many describing a sense of abandonment by President Donald Trump.
The two-week ceasefire was announced after weeks of fighting that began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran while negotiations were still underway.
President Trump said on Wednesday that Washington would work closely with Iran following what he described as a “productive regime change,” adding there would be no uranium enrichment.
But messages from across Iran suggested the pause in fighting has stirred mixed and often painful reactions. Some described the truce as a missed opportunity for political change.
“We asked you for help to free Iran, but not only did you not free it, you handed us a much worse country and trampled the blood of 45,000 martyrs,” one citizen wrote in a message addressed to Trump, referring to protesters killed during past nationwide unrest.
Others expressed deep despair about the country’s future.
“When I heard the news of the ceasefire, it felt like the world collapsed on my head,” a resident of Tehran said.
“We were miserable and now we will become more miserable. We no longer have any hope,” another message said.
Despite the truce, a weeks-long internet blackout across Iran has persisted, limiting communication and access to outside information.
Some urged patience, however, suggesting the ceasefire could be part of a broader strategy.
“Trump knows what he is doing. If he intended to accept the conditions, he would not have entered the war at all. Perhaps more surprises will occur in the coming days,” one citizen wrote.
Another message called on Iranians not to lose hope.
“Do not be so hopeless. Regime change is possible. This ceasefire may be another surprise. You have the right to be tired, but you must remain patient,” a citizen from Kerman wrote in a message addressed to fellow Iranians.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that US and Iranian delegations would arrive in Pakistan on Friday for talks, raising the prospect that the ceasefire could open the way for negotiations.
Some also warned that the pause in fighting could allow the authorities to intensify domestic repression.
“With this ceasefire, the killing machine will be activated faster and more young people will be at risk,” one message said.
Iran has carried out executions during the war, raising fears among activists that the authorities may use the ceasefire period to tighten control.
Others reflected on the uncertainty surrounding the fragile truce.
“I feel like a patient whose surgeon, in the middle of surgery, says let us wait a bit and see if it heals on its own,” one citizen wrote.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.