WANA (Jun 27) – The tense days filled with air raid sirens and the sound of explosions in Tehran have now given way to the honking of car horns and the footsteps of shoppers in the markets. Traffic has returned to the highways of the Iranian capital, and in the traditional Tajrish Bazaar—one of the city’s major markets—shopkeepers are pulling back the curtains from their display windows and arranging their goods. The ceasefire between Iran and Israel may have brought silence back to Tehran’s skies, but for many, this calm still doesn’t feel like true peace.

 

Hossein Ahmadi, a veteran shopkeeper in Tajrish who stayed behind his counter throughout the days of war, recalls: “Business was terrible back then. I sent my family to the countryside, but I stayed. I didn’t close the shop—I held the line.” For him, the current calm is reassuring, but it doesn’t feel like the end: “A ceasefire means peace, and peace is good. But I wish Israel was finished—not through more war, though. This much war is enough.”

People walk in the Tajrish Bazaar, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

That same conflicted feeling is written on many faces: relief at the end of the missile strikes, paired with a sense of unfinished business. People are glad to return to normal life, yet uneasy that Israel wasn’t truly dealt with. Now that the roar of fighter jets has faded, some still wish the war had continued—not out of a thirst for violence, but to eliminate the root of the threat.

 

In the same market, another vendor selling mobile accessories says he stayed in Tehran and kept working all twelve days of the conflict. “There was anxiety in the air, sure, but for me, life went on more or less normally. I went to work, went to the gym, kept up my routine.” He’s now relieved that things have calmed down, and says government price controls have kept inflation in check: “Some people tried to exploit the situation, but the authorities managed to stop the profiteering.”

A man works in a house following an Israeli strike on a building on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

Still, beneath this surface calm, a quiet anger simmers. The vendor pulls out a photo of a friend’s car destroyed in an Israeli strike, then adds with conviction: “We are the resistance front. No one can invade us. They hit us a few times and thought it was over… But ninety percent of them will stick to this ceasefire—because it’s in their own interest.”

 

In the streets surrounding the market, men and women with faint smiles are shopping again. Roya Bavafa, one of them, had temporarily left Tehran but has now returned: “After a while I just couldn’t stay away—financially, and also I missed my home. The nights we spent here during the strikes were really hard.”

People walk in the Tajrish Bazaar, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

She’s skeptical about the ceasefire lasting: “I think they had a goal, and now they’ve achieved it. With people saying Trump is aiming for a Nobel Peace Prize, it’s unlikely they’ll break the deal right away.”

 

Zeynab Haji-Mohammadi, another Tehran resident, reflects on the war days from inside her home: “The fear and stress were constant. But with the ceasefire, life has somewhat returned to normal.” Still, like many others, her relief is laced with doubt: “We were happy about the ceasefire, of course, but there’s a fear behind that happiness too—because Israel has never stuck to its promises. This could just be another game.”

Among the hundreds of damaged homes and the memory of so many civilian deaths, Tehran is standing again. The markets breathe, the storefronts shine, and children return to the streets. But for many, the joy of returning to life is incomplete—because although the war appears to be over, Israel is still there. And that lingering presence casts a shadow over today’s peace. In the minds of many, one question keeps repeating:

Is this truly peace—or just a pause?