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Israel has agreed to hold direct talks with Lebanon to end fighting with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Iran says it will not agree to stick to a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. until Israel stops massive airstrikes on Lebanon. No date for the Israeli-Lebanese talks has yet been set, but the breakthrough has raised some hopes for another key negotiation to be held in Pakistan this week between the U.S. and Iran. But those hopes are not shared by ordinary Iranians, as NPR's D. Parvaz reports from Iran's border with Turkey.
D PARVAZ, BYLINE: A steady convoy of buses and cars pull up along the Iranian side of the border, dropping off passengers all bundled up on this snowy morning. They pull their suitcases over to a long line of vans and taxis.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUITCASE ROLLING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
PARVAZ: People are also walking back across the border going to Iran. All of those who spoke to NPR asked not to be named, fearing reprisal when returning home. But whether they support the Iranian government or not, everyone agrees on one thing. They don't believe the ceasefire will hold, and some aren't even convinced there is a ceasefire.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
PARVAZ: "This isn't a ceasefire. They struck again yesterday. Nothing's happened. There's no ceasefire," says a 27-year-old from Urumieh. At this point, most people have zero trust in the U.S. and Israel, said this man from Maku.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
PARVAZ: "Until now, they haven't stood by the promises they've made," he says. He has confidence that the Iranian government will handle things right, but that's certainly not the case for everyone. I asked one woman who walked across the border with her son if she thought the ceasefire would hold.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
PARVAZ: She says she doesn't have confidence in the ceasefire nor in the Islamic republic, nor in Israel because, she says, she feels Israel wants Iran to be destroyed. And she adds, "Trump can't seem to make an actual decision and plays a different tune every day."
But for some, their skepticism of the ceasefire is based less on feeling than fact.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Non-English language spoken).
PARVAZ: "The positions they've stated are too far apart from each other," says a 70-year-old man from Tehran. "So how could the talks possibly work?"
Then there are those who want neither foreign intervention nor the government they have. I asked a 45-year-old man from Tehran how he sees things.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: (Non-English language spoken).
PARVAZ: "We Iranian people are trapped between two scissor blades - one is the U.S. and Israel, one is our own government," he said.
But there are 90 million people in Iran, many of whom can't travel and whose voices are seldom heard. For some of them, the ceasefire kills the hope that the war would bring regime change in Iran. NPR received a voice memo from a 30-year-old content creator who was injured in an airstrike. Yet, he's devastated to hear about the ceasefire.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #7: (Non-English language spoken).
PARVAZ: "Why do you start a war to destroy the Islamic republic, then start a ceasefire when the Islamic republic is still here?" he says. D. Parvaz, NPR News, Van, Turkey. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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