Haxie Meyers-Belkin is pleased to welcome Borzou Daragahi, award-winning international correspondent and investigative reporter. As Iran marks Nowruz, the Persian New Year, war intrudes into civilian spaces. The psychological terrain is marked less by overt anger than by fatigue, resignation, and a deepening sense of entrapment. A media blackout and communication breakdowns intensify this isolation, eroding social cohesion and amplifying uncertainty. External narratives of “liberation” fail to resonate with civilians who find themselves in survival mode.