Amid President Donald Trump’s Monday announcement that a deal with Iran’s clerical regime is imminent to re-open the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate an end to Tehran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, Iranians who hoped U.S.pressure would force a decisive outcome now fear it may survive while ordinary people absorb the costs."Inside Iran, the mood has shifted from early-war optimism to a kind of exhausted resignation, but there is still some hope that this is the moment President Trump will use his leverage to do the right thing. The Iranian people understand this unusually narrow but strategic window," Lisa Dafari, editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk who keeps in contact with Iranians on the ground, told Fox News Digital.She continued that ,"The regime is fiscally strained and politically brittle, while the broader population has been disillusioned by years of repression and economic collapse.
Iranians do see this as a one‑time opportunity for Washington — and President Trump in particular — to translate military and economic leverage into the potential collapse of an irrefromable regime.If the outcome is a shallow agreement that props up the system without changing its trajectory, that window will likely close for years."TRUMP’S LEADERSHIP CREATES 'RARE OPPORTUNITY' FOR CHANGE IN IRAN, FORMER IRANIAN POLITICAL PRISONER SAYSAn Iranian flag is placed amid rubble next to a destroyed residential building near Ferdowsi Square in Tehran on March 3, 2026.
(ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)She continued, "If instead, the U.S.holds firm on sanctions and nuclear red lines, it can weaken the regime’s hand without punishing the Iranian people, who have already paid the highest price."Daftari, the Iran expert, shared recent correspondence from two Iranians from Tabriz and Tehran.The resident from Tabriz said, "From my perspective, decades of political tension between Iran and the United States have had their greatest impact on ordinary people rather than t...