On the road to Tehran, Iranians on edge as threat of resumption of war looms

Near Tabriz (CNN) — Flanked by glistening, snow-capped peaks, the long road to Tehran winds through picturesque valleys of Tabrizi poplar trees and fields with green shoots of wheat.

We trace the narrow Qotur river, brown and swollen from the spring thaw, as it surges past shepherds grazing their shaggy flocks on the slopes.

In the distance, an impressive railway bridge, its steel girders painted bright white, stretches across the shimmering landscape, apparently untouched by the US and Israeli strikes that battered and scarred parts of Iran earlier this year.

But amid stalled peace negotiations and growing tensions over the continued closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, fears that the war could flare again are fueling a sense of disquiet in the country. On CNN’s trip across the country, ordinary Iranians — whom Trump once exhorted to “take back your country” — described life under bombardment and blockade.

“Don’t go to there, it’s far too dangerous now,” one young Iranian woman traveling from the United States to Tehran advised when she learned of our shared journey through northwestern Iran

“I have family there, that is why I am taking the risk,” she explained, asking not to be identified.

On the roadside, between kiosks selling pistachio nuts and tea, black billboards mourn the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader killed in a February airstrike on the first day of the war.

“His shadow has passed over our heads,” reads one banner in Farsi, quoting a popular Persian lament.

His son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei is now the “standard bearer” of the nation, declares another poster, although the younger Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in the same strike, has not been seen or heard in public since assuming power – another sign of how uncertain Iran remains.

“Trump could decide to start the bombing again today,” one Iranian man said.

“Maybe not when he is in China, but who knows. Trump likes to be at the center of attention,” he added.

As US President Donald Trump embarks on that state visit to China, both the United States and Iran seem to be looking to Beijing for a possible way out of their deadlock. Trump is expected to call on China to pressure Iran toward compromise. Iran’s ambassador to China has also suggested the communist state could play a powerful mediator role between Washington and Tehran.

The US and China share an interest in unblocking the flow of oil and gas through the Persian Gulf. Furthermore, it may be a shrewd diplomatic move for China to appear to be helping to fix the problems created for the global economy in recent months, potentially allowing Beijing to contrast its behavior with Washington’s disruption.

But it is Iranians — a vibrant political force even with the country’s hardline rule – who are likely to decide the future of their country and, on a long drive to the capital there were snapshots of the disparate forces at play.

We saw crowds of day-trippers – young and old – hauling gallon-drums of cooking oil by hand across the border from Turkey. One breathless Iranian pensioner explained how the essential product is now six times more expensive in Iran than in Turkey, amid a spiraling cost-of-living crisis that shows no sign of easing.

Though likely exacerbated by the recent US naval blockade of Iran, cost of living issues underpinned nationwide anti-government protests that began late last year – leading to a ruthless crackdown. Thousands were killed in the state’s response to demonstrations, Iranian authorities have admitted.

At a restaurant en route to Tehran, in an ancient caravanserai, or traditional travelers’ rest house, we were served rice and spiced kebabs and drank thick, dark coffee in a dining room filled with families. Strikingly, most of the Iranian women there were not wearing the hijab, or headscarf – a defiant legacy of the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that forced the Iranian authorities to ease enforcement of strict dress codes.

Iranians have repeatedly shown the will to stand up, often at great cost, in the face of overwhelming force. But today, the US war with Iran, which Trump in the early days called his “little excursion,” is clearly taking a toll on the Iranian people as they struggle to make it from day to day and brace for possible strikes to begin again.

“I don’t think protest, despite the hardships, is even on the agenda for most Iranians right now,” an Iranian father named Maddy confided as he helped his toddler daughter wash her hands at the restaurant.

“Trump’s war has silenced people, and made the Iranian government stronger. At least for now,” the man added.

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