My dreams in Iran were already dead before the ceasefire came

"The bombs have stopped falling for now. But the damage is done, and my life has been wrecked. I am sitting in my grandmother's empty apartment in Tehran, staring at a phone with almost no internet, waiting for a job offer that's not coming."

"Out of all the resumes I sent in desperation, only one company called me for an interview. The salary they offered would not cover the bare minimum to survive. My family keeps calling from Neyshabur, repeating the same line: Come back, there's work for you here."

"The morning the war started, we were in a briefing meeting, drinking tea. A colleague had brought fresh croissants. Then we heard the roar of a fighter jet, a whistle, and seconds later, an explosion."

Sina, a 28-year-old video editing assistant in Tehran, lost his job due to the US-Israel war on Iran. After building a life in the capital, he faces unemployment and pressure to return to his hometown, where opportunities are limited. Despite sending numerous resumes, he receives only one interview with an inadequate salary. The war has stripped him of his independence, leaving him in his grandmother's empty apartment, waiting for a job that may never come. The initial shock of the war was met with curiosity, but the aftermath has been devastating.

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