Iran saw in Nowruz over the weekend without the joy that usually comes with the ancient Persian New Year, a celebration of renewal, spring and family, as relentless US and Israeli air strikes continued.
The tradition of the Haft-Sin table of symbolic fruits, greens and other offerings went unobserved in some households in the capital Tehran.
“I am in no mood to celebrate,” said Azin, a retired teacher. “I haven’t bought any supplies for Nowruz to lay out the Haft-Sin. We are under bombardment. Who is in the mood?”
Iranians are enduring a fourth week of intense bombardment with no end in sight, while Donald Trump’s shifting war aims and mood swings are spreading anxiety among the public.
Many in Tehran say they had initially hoped the conflict would topple the Islamic Republic that has earned a reputation for brutality and incompetence over its 47-year rule.
But the 86-year-old supreme leader Ali Khamenei has been replaced with his enigmatic, hard-line son, Mojtaba, and the government continues to function.
The regime is using intimidation to maintain control, shutting down internet access and setting up checkpoints around the capital. Some residents say it feels like martial law has been imposed.
Many fear the regime could emerge stronger and more vengeful once threats subside.
“If the regime survives this war, I’m absolutely certain it will come after us and take its revenge on the people,” said Amin, a 35-year-old government employee.
A candle burns on a Haft-Sin table, an arrangement of seven symbolic items which names start with the letter ‘S’, to celebrate the spring holiday of Nowruz (Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty)In this atmosphere of eroded hope and constant dread, the arrival of Nowruz and its promise of new beginnings stirred sadness and longing rather than celebration.
“In my own life, there has been no year that I needed hope for a good change more than this one,” said Faranak, 39, a freelance translator.
This marks the third war for many Iranians, after the devastating war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq from 1980-88 and the 12-day conflict with Israel last June. This war is being fought through aerial strikes that make daily life unpredictable and dangerous. Everyday commutes and visits to family have become perilous.
Rouzbeh, a 52-year-old programmer, said the crisis had bought communities closer together.
“I think everyone has their own way of showing they care,” she said. “For me, it’s been reaching out to the people I love and trying to see those I can.”
“At this point, the most any of us can do is call friends and family most nights—just to check they are still alive and okay.”
For most in the West, the idea of war remains abstract, with the explosions confined to screens. In Iran, missile strikes are visceral: sudden, bone-rattling blasts that shake homes, shatter windows and leave lasting fear.
“We can never really get used to the bombings,” said Darya, a stay-at-home mother, 42. “It’s just constant stress. But whether we live or die doesn’t feel like it’s in our control anymore.”
Explosion from an air strike on Tehran (Photo: Reuters/Wana)Many residents of Tehran and other major cities are regularly jolted awake between 3 and 4am by deafening explosions. The blasts come unpredictably – some distant, others terrifyingly close – shaking the foundations of buildings and sending fine dust drifting from ceilings.
Smoke seeps into rooms as hearts pound and minds race: Is this strike aimed at us? Are loved ones safe in the next room? In the darkness, people fumble for phones, flashlights trembling, whispering urgent reassurances while another boom echoes.
Then comes an unnerving silence, pierced only by laboured breathing. These pre-dawn barrages are no longer exceptional; they have become a nightly ordeal that turns sleep into a gamble and leaves raw, lingering terror long after the last explosion fades.
“You never know if your building might be hit—because you don’t even really know your neighbours,” said Darya. “So we try to push the fear away: we only go out for groceries, read books, or play games with the family to stay a little calmer. We act like everything is normal just to get through each day and hold on for better times.”
Many express frustration over the regime’s perceived role in courting the conflict over decades of aggressive policies, chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” and isolation.
“This war is a result of so many years of bad politics,” said Tara, a 44-year-old makeup artist in Tehran. “The government hasn’t tried to solve its problems for years, neither with people inside the country, nor with the world. War has become an inevitable result of all those wrongdoings.”
Amid the rubble and uncertainty, ordinary Iranians persist in small acts of defiance and hope—colouring eggs for their Haft-Sin tables, calling loved ones, holding onto traditions that war cannot fully erase.
Nowruz 2026 may lack its usual glory, but its core message still resonates: spring will come again, even if renewal feels distant.
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