A dignified life is a ‘distant dream’ for many Iranian families amid US war

Tehran, Iran – Iranians born in the 1980s have often considered themselves to be the “burned generation”, living in a period marked by the political and economic turbulence that followed Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The United States embassy hostage crisis , when Iranian activists in 1979 detained American diplomats and others for 444 days, set the tone for a decade ahead.

What followed in the 1980s was eight years of gruelling war with neighbouring Iraq, a cultural revolution undertaken by the nascent Islamic Republic, the executions of political prisoners, sanctions and economic uncertainty.

Bardia, a 23-year-old living with his parents in eastern Tehran, said many people his age feel they have it even worse than the 1980s generation, due to worsening sanctions creating an even more volatile job market and inflation.

“Becoming independent or forming a family, emigrating away, buying a home, a shop, a car or even a new phone is becoming more of a distant dream every day,” he told Al Jazeera, asking to remain anonymous due to security concerns.

Decades of domestic mismanagement and corruption paired with external intervention have made life difficult for most of the about 90 million Iranians, even before the US and Israeli war on the country began on February 28.

Months of US bombing, intensified sanctions, and naval blockades have significantly worsened the situation this year, in addition to the January antigovernment protests and state-sanctioned restrictions on internet use by the population.

Last week, the government hiked petrol prices, which will likely have an inflationary effect, with a feeling that the situation will get worse before it gets better.