‘We had an ordinary life’: How six months of war have shattered Iran’s coastal communities

Six months into the US-Israel war on Iran, the country’s 90 million people are not just facing military strikes and political upheaval — they are watching their livelihoods unravel. Nowhere is that more visible than on the remote islands of the Persian Gulf, where fishing families like Khadijeh Bandari’s have seen their world turned upside down.

Bandari, a 28-year-old fisherwoman from Hengam Island, told Al Jazeera in a first-person account published on September 2 how the war has destroyed the small economy she and her husband built. Before February 28, they ran a guesthouse, a seaside restaurant and an Instagram-based fish delivery business. “We had an ordinary life,” she said. “The sea belongs to us women just as much as it belongs to men.”

That ordinary life ended when US and Israeli strikes assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and key IRGC commanders, triggering a conflict that has since spread across the region. For Bandari, the war arrived as a shout from her mother at sea: “The war has started.” Explosions hit a village near her home, and a coastguard ordered everyone away from the beach. Source: Al Jazeera

Her story is a microcosm of the broader collapse in civilian quality of life. According to an Al Jazeera report on August 30, the war has caused a “daily struggle” for most Iranians, even as the political and military establishment adapts without making major ideological concessions. The Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil shipments, has seen traffic dwindle to a trickle due to Iranian and US attacks. Iran claims to have reached an understanding with Oman to open a transit route, but the Trump administration opposes the deal and demands full reopening. Source: Al Jazeera

The economic pressure is compounded by fresh military escalation. On August 31, US Central Command said it bombed two IRGC rocket launchers on Larak Island. The IRGC retaliated by attacking US bases in Jordan. Source: Al Jazeera The next day, Iranian state media announced numerous US strikes on Iranian territory, and President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “hard” if it retaliated. Source: Al Jazeera On September 2, the US said its forces “successfully” completed another wave of strikes, accusing the IRGC of attempted attacks on shipping and US service members. Source: Al Jazeera

For Bandari, the escalation is not abstract. Her three-year-old son Keyhan — whose name means “the world” — now knows the sound of bombs. Fishing trips are dangerous; tourists have vanished. The internet shutdowns that began in January crippled her online sales, and the war has made the sea a war zone. “We had an ordinary life,” she repeats, as if trying to convince herself.

The strategic significance of her story goes beyond one family. Hengam and Qeshm islands sit near the Strait of Hormuz, where the US and Iran are locked in a standoff that affects global energy markets. The repeated strikes on IRGC positions on islands like Larak show the US intent to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten shipping. But for civilians, the cost is measured in lost income, disrupted education and constant fear.

Iran’s political establishment remains divided between those seeking a diplomatic resolution and those wanting to fight until the US backs down. All factions agree there will be no “capitulation.” Meanwhile, the war grinds on, and ordinary Iranians like Khadijeh Bandari are left to navigate uncertainty with little more than a boat and a memory of how life used to be.