Every night for the last week, my family in Tehran wakes up to the Earth shaking as missiles strike and children scream. When the bombs go silent, they hear drones buzzing—a constant reminder they’re being watched by the foreign army assaulting their city.
Last week, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran. Over 600 people have died, the majority civilians, including entire families killed while asleep. It has bombed Iran’s state TV live on air, killing at least one journalist. Israeli bombs have hit hospitals and ambulances, killing paramedics. Medical facilities are overflowing with the injured.
Israel says it targets military bases and nuclear sites. But its bombs have struck homes across the country. President Donald Trump said Tehran should evacuate—a threat to the entire civilian population. Tehran is a vast city of 10 million people. In June, the flowers are in bloom and the rivers overflow with glacier water. Mountain hiking paths fill with people. Tehran is also a diverse city. I lived near a church, close to a synagogue and Zoroastrian temple. There are Sunni and Shiite Muslims, atheists and Baha’is, Afghan and Iraqi refugees.
Today everyone in Tehran is experiencing terror.
Israel gives evacuation orders, like in Gaza and Lebanon. But it’s impossible for everyone to leave. Many orders go out at night, when Iranians are asleep. Israel has hit fuel depots, causing gasoline shortages. On Monday, Israel told residents of District 3 to leave—300,000 people live there, including my family. They have nowhere to go. Many of my friends have also stayed to take care of elderly relatives.
Those who can say goodbye to their homes, unsure if or when they’ll return. They fear being bombed on the road, just like people killed in Gaza and Lebanon, or by Israeli bombs in Tehran. Just last week, my family was planning for summer holidays. My cousins wanted to rent a cabin near the beaches of the Caspian Sea. Instead, they are praying bombs don’t kill them in their sleep.
It didn’t have to be this way. Last week, Iran and the United States were in the middle of negotiations. They’d spent months working out a deal.
They already made a deal once before: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement led to joyful celebrations in Tehran. I’ll never forget the optimism among friends and family. Both the U.S. and Iran held up their end of the bargain. Until Trump came to power and quit the deal in 2018. Former President Joe Biden campaigned on returning to the deal. But when he became president, he broke his promise.
Instead, the U.S. continued crippling sanctions on Iran. They have been devastating for civilians. The currency has lost most of its value. Medicines have become hard to find, leading to preventable deaths.
Ironically, sanctions strengthened the regime by encouraging smuggling, concentrating wealth among oligarchs. Sanctions did succeed in one thing: crushing ordinary Iranians. They weakened civil society, small businesses, and academic and cultural associations.
For decades, Iranians have organized, protested, and rebelled for greater freedom. They have also advocated for better relations with the U.S. But America’s betrayal of the deal—and its support for Israel’s surprise attack—has undermined peace-loving Iranians. Every time Trump goes back on his word, it’s a message Americans can’t be trusted.
Iranians have many reasons not to trust America, like the 1953 CIA coup that overthrew their democratically-elected government and put the tyrannical Shah back in power. Or U.S. support for Saddam Hussein when he used chemical weapons against Iranians.
But Iranians kept fighting for diplomacy. They elected a president who promised to make it happen. When Trump said he wanted a deal, Iranians believed him. When he said he’d avoid a new Middle East war, they cheered.
Instead, Trump secretly sent Israel missiles. Israel says it attacked because Iran is building a nuclear bomb. But U.S. intelligence has repeatedly shown this is false.
Ironically, it is Israel that has an estimated 90 undeclared nuclear bombs, hidden from international inspectors. And it is Israel that commits what law experts argue is genocide in Palestine and war crimes in Lebanon.
The U.S. not only failed to stop Israel—it keeps sending billions in military aid.
Iranians feel betrayed by Americans—and terrified by the reckless warmongering of our allies. If Trump is concerned about Iran getting a nuclear bomb, then he should study history: diplomacy works.
War is not the answer. The JCPOA is proof that Iran will uphold its end of a deal. Now Americans must prove that we, too, believe in peace, not war.
The U.S. needs to end the flow of arms and sanction Israel, stop the war, and return to negotiations. If we don’t want another generation around the world to grow up hating America, we must embrace peace. Let’s show Iranians that Americans can be trusted.
Alex Shams is an anthropologist with a PhD from the University of Chicago whose work focuses on Middle East politics. He previously worked as a journalist based in the West Bank.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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