--- ---  IDEASTime ideas # The Paradox of Survival in Iran by [Nazanin Boniadi](https://time.com/author/nazanin-boniada/) ## Nazanin Boniadi Contributor Mar 11, 2026 11:05 PM UTC  Plumes of smoke rise following explosions in Tehran, Iran on March 2, 2026. Plumes of smoke rise following explosions in Tehran, Iran on March 2, 2026.Sasan—Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images by [Nazanin Boniadi](https://time.com/author/nazanin-boniada/) ## Nazanin Boniadi Contributor Mar 11, 2026 11:05 PM UTC Reports of more than 100 elementary schoolgirls [killed](https://time.com/7381982/iran-girls-school-killed/) at a school in southern Iran—amid the first wave of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian territory—haunt a nation long accustomed to mourning its children. For almost half a century, Iranians have watched countless young lives extinguished by their own government: [protesters](https://time.com/7357635/more-than-30000-killed-in-iran-say-senior-officials/) shot in the streets, prisoners [executed](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/12/iran-horrifying-execution-of-young-protester-exposes-authorities-cruelty-and-risk-of-further-bloodshed/) after sham trials, [teenagers](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68840881) murdered in custody. This is the paradox of survival in Iran. Iranians are being asked to demonstrate moral clarity about a war that endangers them from two fronts. It should be unsurprising that impromptu [celebrations](https://x.com/GhonchehAzad/status/2027857685647896767?s=20) occurred across Iran after the[ Supreme Leader](https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-explosion-tehran-c2f11247d8a66e36929266f2c557a54c?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of the regime’s security apparatus were killed. Instead, such celebrations were swiftly[ criticized](https://x.com/BlairXMovie/status/2030782285746946485?s=20). Some even condemned them as callous toward civilian suffering. And on March 2, members of Iran’s women’s national soccer [team](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/world/middleeast/iran-women-soccer-football-team-australia.html) refused to sing the national anthem before a match in Australia—a courageous act of defiance that spoke loudly against the regime, even as non-Iranians abroad rally under its flag in opposition to war. Some players sought asylum in Australia. They too were scrutinized. But such judgments often come from a place of distance—from people who have never lived under a theocracy that imprisons, tortures, and kills with impunity. For those inside Iran—or those who have fled its repression—the moral calculus of survival looks very different. United Nations human rights [experts](https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/iran-un-experts-call-de-escalation-and-accountability) have condemned recent military strikes on Iran as violations of international law, invoking one of the central principles of the post–World War II order: the sovereignty of states and the prohibition on the use of force except in self-defense or with authorization from the U.N. Security Council. Their legal argument is clear. But the debate reveals a deeper injustice—one that millions of Iranians have been forced to live with for decades. The international order promises [universal human rights](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights). Yet when a state itself becomes the chief violator of those rights, the system often offers little more than reports, statements of concern, and carefully worded condemnations. For too many Iranians, justice has [never arrived](https://time.com/7362290/iran-uprising-collapse-islamic-republic/). During the nationwide [uprising](https://time.com/7362287/iran-beauty-identity-democracy-protests/) that [shook](https://time.com/7362807/iran-protests-regime-uprising-series/) Iran in early 2026, human rights monitors documented thousands of deaths as security forces carried out a lethal crackdown on protesters. But according to local health officials, the true death toll could be as high as 30,000\. When authorities cut internet and phone service across Iran, families were left searching for missing loved ones at [makeshift morgues](https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/12/middleeast/iran-kahrizak-tehran-morgue-protest-crackdown-dissent-intl-latam). For many Iranians, this violence is not an abstraction. It is the air they breathe. This context helps explain why many people inside the country have reacted to the deaths of regime figures with relief. Human rights lawyer [Nasrin Sotoudeh](https://iranwire.com/en/features/148406-nasrin-sotoudeh-the-world-must-uphold-international-law-in-iran/) described the desperation bluntly in an interview earlier this year. Speaking about public sentiment inside Iran, she said that “many people are waiting for this strike. Many who have been driven to the brink see it as their last hope.” Many of us, including Nobel Laureate [Shirin Ebadi](https://www.dw.com/en/irans-shirin-ebadi-calls-on-us-to-step-in-stop-killings/video-75504621), called for "highly targeted actions against Iran's supreme leader and senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guard.” This does not mean Iranians welcome war. On the contrary, they long to end the war waged against them by the Islamic Republic. A friend in Iran, reaching me through a rare satellite connection after the fighting began, etched her experience into my memory. “If you have never lived in a prison state, if you’ve never had to search rows of body bags for your child, you cannot understand why we celebrated when the attacks killed our oppressors," she said. "It felt like long-awaited justice." Then her voice faltered. “My children are afraid of the bombs,” she explained. “And I am afraid for their future if this regime survives.” Multiple emotions exist at the same time: fear and relief, despair and hope. From the outside, this may look like contradiction. From the inside, it is survival. For decades, Iranians have appealed to the international community to hold the Islamic Republic regime accountable for systematic abuses. We have filed [reports](https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/iran#:~:text=In%20August%2C%20authorities%20also%20arrested,as%20crimes%20punishable%20by%20death.), documented atrocities, and testified before international bodies. And for decades, those inside Iran have risked their lives to expose the regime’s atrocities. When justice is consistently denied, people begin to see its sudden arrival—even in violent form—as something else entirely. Not vengeance. Recognition. Recognition that the suffering they endured was real. That their tormentors were not untouchable. That the world had finally noticed. None of this diminishes the tragedy of civilian lives lost in war. But it should challenge the ease with which outsiders judge the emotions of people who have lived under 47 years of tyranny. The Iranians risking their lives today to call attention to injustice are not asking the world to celebrate violence—but to help bring it to an end. They are asking whether the international system recognizes their humanity. Until that day, many Iranians will continue to live with a painful paradox: hoping that the forces capable of ending their oppression will not also destroy everything they love—and that the world will meet this anguish with empathy, rather than judgment. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. 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