According to a video on Channel 4 News, on Saturday June 6, 2026, Professor Sadegh Zibakalam opened his interview with a vivid description of the mood gripping ordinary Iranians, painting a picture of a population living in a state of collective anxiety, preoccupied above all else with the question of whether the country was moving toward peace or toward another round of devastating conflict.
Zibakalam, speaking from Tehran in one of the few occasions in which he has been able to speak to Western media in person, used the moment to convey how thoroughly the question of Iran’s relationship with the United States had come to dominate everyday life and conversation across the country, cutting across class, education, and political alignment.
In his words, Sadegh Zibakalam said, “Everywhere you go nowadays, before they say salam alaikum, they would ask you — what is the latest, have you heard anything, will there be peace, will there be agreement, or will there be war?”.
“And that has been the psychology of Iranians, particularly the more educated, the more affluent Iranians, since Trump was elected and entered into the White House last year — waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and hoping that there would be peace, there would be agreement, there would be a long-term agreement between the Islamic Republic and the United States.
“But of course it goes up and down. One minute Trump says one thing, another minute he says another thing, and hardliner Iranians say one thing, the more moderate Iranians say another thing, and everything is in a chaos” he said.
He said educated and economically aware Iranians in particular understood clearly how much depended on the outcome of negotiations, making the suspense all the more acute.