There is a very specific, very boring kind of horror that comes with waiting for a **potential conflict in the Middle East**. We have been trained by Hollywood to expect panic in the streets—people running, screaming, and flipping over cars during **Iran war tensions**. We expect empty shelves and fighting over the last loaf of bread. But reality, as usual, is much stranger and much more stupid than fiction. The news coming out of the region today is not about chaos. It is about the absolute, crushing weight of simply waiting.

According to the reports, the **grocery stores in Tehran** are full. The shelves are stocked. There is plenty of food. People can walk in, buy a carton of milk, pick up some eggs, and go home. On the surface, it looks like a normal Tuesday. But it isn't. It is a pantomime of life under the shadow of potential **US targeted strikes**. Everyone is going through the motions of living while looking up at the sky, wondering if the United States is about to turn their neighborhood into a crater. They are in limbo. And let me tell you, limbo is worse than hell, because in hell, at least you know where you stand.

This is the state of our modern world. We have created a global theater where millions of normal people are held hostage by the whims of a few men in suits thousands of miles away. In Washington, there is talk of strategic bombardment as part of the unfolding **military strategy**. That is a very clean, polite phrase for blowing things up. It sounds like a surgical procedure. It sounds professional. **President Trump** is reportedly 'considering' it. Just think about that word for a moment. 'Considering.' It sounds like he is looking at a menu in a restaurant, deciding between the steak and the fish. But he isn't ordering dinner. He is deciding whether or not to start a chain reaction that could set the entire **Middle East conflict** on fire.

For the people on the ground, this 'consideration' is a form of psychological torture. Imagine trying to plan your week when you don't know if your office will exist on Thursday. Imagine telling your kids to do their homework when the news says a superpower might drop bombs on your city tonight. But you still have to buy the milk. You still have to wash the dishes. You still have to pretend that civilization is holding together, even when it feels like the glue is melting.

The absurdity of the 'well-stocked shelves' is the most biting detail of all. It proves that the problem isn't a lack of resources. It isn't a natural disaster. It isn't a famine. The system works fine. The trucks are delivering food. The farmers are growing crops. The only thing threatening these people is politics. The only reason they are afraid is because leaders on both sides of the ocean have decided to play a game of chicken with human lives. It is the ultimate failure of the 'smart' people in charge. We have mastered logistics, we can ship avocados across the globe without bruising them, but we cannot figure out how to stop threatening to kill each other for five minutes.

From a distance, looking down from my ivory tower in Europe, it is exhausting to watch. It is like watching a bad television show that keeps getting renewed for another season. We have seen this plot before. We know the characters. We know the script. The tough talk, the threats, the movement of ships and planes. It is a performance. But the audience—the people buying that milk in Tehran—are locked inside the theater and they can't leave. They are forced to participate in a **geopolitical crisis** they didn't write and don't want to star in.

So, the Iranians wait. They wait to see what the man in the White House decides to do. They wait to see how their own leaders will react. They act out the routine of daily life because there is nothing else to do. You cannot scream for twenty-four hours a day. Eventually, you have to stop and make dinner. That is the tragedy of it. It isn't the explosion that defines our era; it is the quiet, nervous Tuesday before the explosion, where everyone pretends to be normal while the world leaders sharpen their knives. It is sophisticated stupidity at its finest, and we are all just watching it happen, tired and full of disdain.

***

### References & Fact-Check * **Primary Source**: [Iranians Brace for War as Trump Considers Targeted Strikes (NY Times)](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/world/middleeast/iran-preparations-war.html) * **Context**: Analysis of civilian psychology and supply chain stability in Tehran amidst elevated military readiness levels (DEFCON status pending). * **Topic Authority**: Coverage of geopolitical tensions and US-Iran relations.