As the White House quietly pursues a two-phase proposal of agreement with Tehran to de-escalate tensions, the international chess match persists in muddying the crisis for the Iranian people. While diplomats argue over trade routes and nuclear terms, Iranian families are struggling to face the brutal reality of an economy pushed to its limits by years of international blockades and state government inefficiency.

The current diplomatic back-and-forth are attempts to provide short-term relief to a disrupted global energy market and present the Iranian government a lifeline. Recent comments made by Ilan Berman, senior vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, affirm that the talks are not a permanent solution but a vital stepping stone.

“We’re not talking about a final deal. We’re talking about a memorandum of understanding which opens the first phase of a two-phase deal,” Berman noted during an interview on last week’s “Washington Watch.”

From Tehran’s perspective, the chief goal of showing up at the negotiating table is simply survival. “Because of the U.S. blockade, the Iranians have stopped shipping something like 75% of the oil … they were out shipping previously from the Strait of Hormuz, so their economy is hurting. They need some sort of temporary reprieve,” Berman explained.

As for the typical citizen in cities like Tehran and Isfahan, the promised “reprieve” has not materialized. Long-term trends analyzed by the World Bank have shown that Iran’s national currency, the Rial, has taken massive hits to its value over the past decade. This extreme devaluation has led to rampant hyperinflation. Basic household items, food staples like bread, eggs, and meat, and vital medical supplies have all skyrocketed in cost. Middle-class families have now been pushed far below the poverty line and must work multiple jobs just to pay for the most basic necessities.

“The domestic situation has grown even more tense due to recent developments in the Strait of Hormuz,” Berman shared. “For the past six weeks, a fragile ceasefire has been disrupted by Iranian naval actions in the critical maritime bottleneck.”

He further described how the Iranian Navy has started “interdicting ships,” which has effectively “stopped transit traffic,” causing thousands of oil tankers to be backed up. By threatening to “charge tolls for each ship,” the Iranian state government has created an untenable predicament that will continue to drive up global fuel prices. While the regime employs this naval blockade as leverage against Washington, local citizens have become victims of a debilitating embargo at home.

Excessive government spending on regional proxy groups — spanning throughout the Palestinian territories, Yemen, and Iraq — translates to scarce national funds being diverted away from distressed local infrastructure, schools, and hospitals. According to a recent humanitarian update published by the International Crisis Group, this diversion of funds, alongside strict international trade restrictions, has led to frequent and severe shortages of life-saving medicines and rolling power blackouts.

A potential deal also faces formidable political hurdles in Washington. The Trump administration is under heavy pressure to avoid an agreement that doesn’t resemble past administrations’ efforts, specifically President Barack Obama’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. A successful pact, according to Berman, “has to be condition-based,” ensuring that there will not be “sanctions relief” or “pallets of cash that can go to the Iranian regime in the expectation that the regime will behave better.” Rather, the deal reached must enforce tangible change in Iranian state behavior both regarding its nuclear ambitions and its orientation in regional state dynamics.

Until a comprehensive agreement can be reached that addresses economic stabilization and soothes international tensions, the Iranian people remain trapped in a state of suspended animation. They are victims of a domestic government that is exhausting its remaining energy resources as a bureaucratic weapon while the international community uses sanctions as a shield. Daily life in Iran continues to be defined, not by lofty rhetoric of international dignitaries, but by the grueling daily struggle to survive.