When Iran signed its historic nuclear deal with the west last July, the prize was the end of sanctions after implementation, and the nation was exuberant. Mobile phones buzzed with messages of congratulations and text messages carrying discounts and specials heralding the country’s opening for business.
But this past weekend, Iranians greeted the official lifting of those sanctions with far less fizz than expected. Apart from a few banks that held festivities, there was no mass pouring on to the streets of big cities, no great fanfare on state media, and no passing around of sweets en masse, despite Iranians’ awareness of having stepped out from under one of the most crushing sanctions regimes of all time. “It’s only the liberals and the government who are getting festive,” said a family friend in Tehran, who told me there was little celebratory atmosphere on the streets. “Most people are just waiting for things to get cheaper.”
Much stands to change in Iran as a result, but the country has important parliamentary elections next month, and the mood of ordinary Iranians is clouded by doubts as to how quickly and meaningfully they will feel any effects in daily life. The high of last summer came from the symbolic power of knowing global ostracism was over; but at present, the realities ahead still seem stark. Today, schools and businesses in a Tehran choked by winter smog started two hours later than usual, by official decree. Most Iranians worry only about prices coming down, and know that for the foreseeable future it is the state itself and the country’s business elite that will be boosted.
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