By Alireza Bahrami
Correspondent for AsiaN
TEHRAN: In war, explosives are used. Explosives and firearms kill some and injure others. But the damage is not limited to death or injury. Some of the damage is psychological and has grave consequences.
Psychologists have a concept called “Ambiguous grief.” They say that when you are in a situation like a war, you feel that all your dreams and plans have been destroyed. You feel that you have lost everything and are helpless.
Psychologists have, of course, provided solutions for such a situation; including very short-term compensatory planning!
Tehran had a difficult night last night. I had gone to the bank near my house in the morning. Bank hours have been reduced these days. There were many people in the bank. I could hear them talking. In addition to the job confusion, I felt that many of them were suffering from Ambiguous grief.
Imported goods are stuck in customs, bank transactions are slow, and many employees are working shifts and only 30% of their due hours.
This situation is not unique to Iran. Today, President Trump expressed his anger at the dramatic increase in oil prices.
On the evening of the 12th day of the war, Iran launched several missiles at a US base in Qatar. Qatar is a small Arab country in the western Persian Gulf. It is a large peninsula that has been a US base in the Persian Gulf for many years.
The attack by bombers that took place two days ago on a nuclear site near Isfahan in central Iran was carried out from this base. Iran notified Qatar and the United Arab Emirates before the attack. That means it notified the United States. As a result, no Americans were killed in the attack.
After the attack, President Trump, pleased with Iran’s earlier announcement and the lack of severity of the attack, declared that it was time for peace. He also announced a definitive ceasefire in the next few hours.
People in Iran were happy, but some believed it was a hoax.
When I started writing this article, the most severe attack in the past 13 nights had occurred. Israel had issued a warning for our urban area. There were loud and continuous explosions. The house shook violently. The windows did not break, but one of the windows flew open.
Everyone was asking, wasn’t there supposed to be a ceasefire?!
After its massive attack, Israel announced that it would accept a ceasefire if Iran did not respond to these attacks. Iran also announced that it had not received any ceasefire offer.
Sometimes we wish lies were true. Sometimes we would like to be deceived but for it to be true.
In pre-dawn Tehran, the sky is getting light. The birds are singing.
Tweets from the Iranian Foreign Minister indicate that Iran has accepted the ceasefire.
