AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Earlier tonight, President Trump said that he would suspend bombing Iran for two weeks, subject to Iran agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz. He announced this pause in bombing on Truth Social, backing away from his threats earlier today that, quote, "a whole civilization will die tonight" if a deal was not reached by 8 p.m. Eastern tonight. Now, in the lead up to the deadline, NPR's Arezou Rezvani was able to get in touch with people in Iran during periods of intermittent connectivity between internet blackouts there, and she brings us their voices.
AREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: It is not hard to find people in Iran who echo what President Trump told reporters Monday.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We've had numerous intercepts. Please keep bombing. Bombs that are dropping near their homes. Please keep bombing. Do it.
REZVANI: One 40-year-old woman in Tehran says she's dreading the possibility of a ceasefire. She asked not to be named because she's afraid the government will retaliate for her views.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) We want these bombings to continue until each one of these regime officials either surrenders or is killed because we have no other choice. We're empty-handed. We have nothing to fall back on.
REZVANI: After decades of corruption, mismanagement and economic isolation, most Iranians have a hard time getting by. The government has never tolerated much dissent on political or social matters. Whenever Iranians protested, security forces brutally crushed them, killing untold thousands over the years. That's left many people, like this woman in Tehran, feeling like the war is the only way out, even if that means more civilians are killed, even if Iran is bombed back to the Stone Ages, as Trump has vowed, if the regime does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz in the coming hours.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) Everyone seems upset about the bridge that Israel destroyed or this or that place that America bombed. Let me tell you, this is psychological warfare from the Islamic republic. Every bit of infrastructure is controlled by the government and the Revolutionary Guard Corps. They've had control over all this infrastructure all these years.
REZVANI: For every Iranian that views the U.S. and Israel as potential liberators, there are many others who've also turned against them.
HOSSEIN: I mean, they are invading the country that I love, and they interrupted what I think was a collective struggle for democracy.
REZVANI: That's 38-year-old Hossein (ph). He asked to be identified just by his first name because he's afraid of government reprisal. Before the war, Hossein opposed the Islamic republic. He's protested against the government for as long as he can remember. And yet...
HOSSEIN: And yet, I will cheer them on because it's just about the integrity of this country and the idea of Iran and a united country. And so far as they are fighting this fight, I think I'm standing by them.
REZVANI: Hossein worries that if this government falls at the hands of the U.S. and Israel, Iran will break apart. He's hoping the surviving members of this battered government will give up the corruption and isolation in favor of a different future.
HOSSEIN: Now, we need to bridge over our differences and try to make something new out of this misery. I think the younger generation of revolutionary people are ready to do it. Right now, I think my first hope would be the economy to improve and then for the democratic change to follow.
REZVANI: Hossein, who recently finished his postgraduate studies in Europe, has more faith in the government he once protested against than those vowing to escalate the war.
HOSSEIN: The president of the United States is a whimsical man who cannot decide what he actually wants. If we bow to his demands, would the attack actually end? I don't think so. We are dealing with an unknown phenomenon.
REZVANI: Arezou Rezvani, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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