President Donald Trump broods over whether to resume his bombing campaign against Iran, a snapshot of life in the Islamic Republic finds its citizens in limbo, drained by hardship and fearing war while their economy defies predictions of its destruction.

Parisa, a personal trainer in Tehran, is preparing to abandon her gym business because surging rent and running costs have made it unviable. Keyvan, who runs a food producer in the Iranian capital, says times are tough, but the economy is surviving thanks to official preparations for the war and some government interventions.

They have differing takes on the severity of Iran’s predicament eight months into a war with the US and Israel, yet they agree on one thing. “It’s the uncertainty that’s crushing us,” said Parisa. Indeed, the biggest problem facing people is the “relentless uncertainty,” said Keyvan.

Inflation heading toward 90% and not knowing what may or may not happen to their country is leaving many Iranians in a state of despair over their inability to make plans or, some say, to even think about the next day.

Iran’s currency has hit further record lows after losing half its value against the US dollar this year. One dollar now costing as much as 2.7 million rials on Iran’s unregulated open market, a sign that people are expecting the worst. The US’s naval blockade has strangled trade and critical oil exports as well as Iran’s ability to access raw materials and essential supplies from ports.

Parisa recalled how a few minutes earlier she had bought a notepad for her office for 10.3 million rials — a 270% increase on what she paid last year. That’s about the same price she charges for a single group class at her now moribund gym.

“We only just raised our prices and if we do it again, we’ll lose whatever clients we have left,” she said. “We’re exhausted. All of my friends and people around me are saying the same thing: If there’s going to be a war again or if they’re going to make a deal, just let us know sooner either way.”Bloomberg spoke with several people over WhatsApp and Telegram. They declined to give their full names because of the sensitivity of speaking to foreign media. Others interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concerns over the policy and heightened scrutiny over interactions with Western-based media.

A collapse in the currency last December triggered protests in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar that spread nationwide into an uprising against the Islamic Republic. Trump and his partner in the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called on protesters to overthrow the regime before, weeks later, launching airstrikes that killed the country’s supreme leader and a raft of senior officials and generals.

In the months that followed, the US-Israeli war on Iran killed more than 3,500 Iranians, according to both Iran’s Health Ministry and independent human rights groups that monitor the country. The US and Israel have bombed critical infrastructure including fuel silos, refineries, petrochemical plants, steel makers and bridges.

“The economic situation is, of course, dire,” said Cyrus Razzaghi, chief executive officer of Tehran-based market research company Ara Enterprise. “But I don’t detect any sign of unrest because everybody realizes we’re in a state of war and it’s a very fragile situation.”A resumption of US strikes would also raise fears of attacks like the one on an elementary school in the southern coastal city of Minab that killed 123 children. In terms of child casualties, it was the deadliest American military targeting error of the 21st century.

While Trump has frequently dangled the bombing of Iran again after this week’s midterm elections in the US, diplomatic efforts to avert a potentially catastrophic new escalation have intensified. Qatari mediators flew to Tehran for the second time in days on Monday. One diplomat briefed on the matter said the countries are reviewing the latest proposals on how to end their standoff.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is backing efforts to broker a deal while also remaining fully prepared for fresh military escalation. “We are striving to resolve the issue through dialogue and, in this regard, the supreme leader has also granted certain powers to the government,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday.

US airstrikes targeted the Iranian island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, though Washington downplayed the idea it was stoking the conflict.

In recent months Iranian generals and officials have promoted their country’s military preparations in anticipation of fresh US or Israeli bombardments. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has been in principal charge of battlefield decisions in the war, said there will be “significant changes” in their defense and counter-attack strategy in the event of a major US attack.

As the situation remains fragile, Iranian businesses that have so far survived can do little but wait. The first, most destructive phases of the war and subsequent efforts by the US Treasury to trigger Iran’s financial disintegration, didn’t yield the economic collapse many had anticipated.

Iran has weathered repeated cycles of US sanctions over the decades, building what it calls a resistance economy. While that resilience has been tested like rarely before, the country was able to release reserves of essential supplies for the population such as grains and other foods. It also leaned on geography — Iran has more than a dozen land and maritime borders — and strategic relationships with Russia and China.

From July to October, Iran was the biggest buyer of Russian grain, importing more than 1.7 million tons of mostly barley and corn, according to agriculture consultancy ProZerno. The government has tried to help families with additional subsidies in the form of electronic coupons that they’ve promised to raise in value.

Keyvan runs a family business that for generations has produced food products for both Iran’s market of more than 90 million consumers and many neighboring export markets including Iraq and Afghanistan. At the start of the war he was worried about supply chains and access to packaging because of strikes on Iranian petrochemical plants.

“From an economic perspective, after the war, a lot of places shut down, a lot of people were laid off, but that collapse of the economy that many people thought would happen didn’t happen,” he said. “There’s been some good management of the economy and the situation by the government.”In Isfahan, an industrial hub that was frequently bombed by both the US and Israel in the first months of the war, on the surface life continues as normal.

Family picnics dot the parks that line the Zayandeh Rud river that cuts through the historic center of Iran’s former capital, according to one local businessman, who declined to give his name citing the sensitivity of the matter. He said that in past six months he’d opened retail outlets and other public facilities. Several hotels have also opened in the past few five months, he said.

“I’m not saying it’s not hard, it is hard, things are tough,” the businessman said. “But the government helps, people help each other out. Everyone is trying to do their bit to help.”