With President Trump’s deadline to unleash mass destruction on Iran just hours away on Tuesday, Iranians faced the threats with a mix of indifference, defiance, and bewilderment.

…“The first thing that came to my mind is that I think Trump is under a lot of pressure, and that he has lost his mind,” said Lili, who works in the arts scene in the Iranian capital, Tehran. She asked not to use her full name out of fear of repercussions for speaking to foreign media…Lili said she and her family had made no contingency plans at all, and they were not planning to flee Tehran. They were not stocking up on goods or bracing to hole up at home. “We need to continue with our lives,” she said, adding there was no apparent haven to flee to: Attacking infrastructure meant almost anywhere could become a target.

…Mohsen Borhani, a law professor at Tehran University, said that as he read through Mr. Trump’s threats toward those the American president had called the “crazy bastards” running Iran, his first thought was of the founding fathers. In particular, he thought of the writings of Thomas Jefferson, “and the values that America was supposed to lead by,” he said. “I also thought about the global order established after World War II, centered around the United Nations and shaped under Roosevelt’s leadership,” he said, referring to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. “And I wondered, how it is possible for a U.S. president to undermine and discredit all American values and 250 years of human legacy?”

Mr. Borhani, a well-known political commentator in Iran, said the Trump administration was still operating under a “false assumption” that enough military pressure could force Iran’s authoritarian clerical rulers to surrender. “Based on my understanding of Iranian society and governance," he said, “I can state clearly that even several nuclear bombs would not achieve such an outcome.”

… Lili, the Tehran resident, said that as someone who long opposed her government and sympathized with the nationwide demonstrations that sought to topple it just months ago, Mr. Trump’s threats have shifted her feelings toward the United States and Israel. Both countries’ leaders have repeatedly voiced support for Iran’s opposition and encouraged Iranians to use the war to rise against their leaders. But their warplanes are now bombing not just military sites, she said, but critical industrial facilities, universities, and schools. “So now, we are supporting Iran and whatever government is running it,” she said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/world/middleeast/iran-shock-defiance-trump-deadline-threat.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZFA.BsZv.IzFv1ARU4mPO&smid=nytcore-ios-share