In Iran, NPR sees anger and desperation. Its government tells us nothing is wrong

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/09/ [login to see] /iran-protests-nuclear-prisoners-tehran-mahsa-amini
Months after the death of Mahsa Amini, a deep-seated sense of anger and desperation persists in the streets of Tehran, even as the protests that rocked Iran have diminished.

The protests erupted after the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman — known to family as Jina — died in police custody in September, after being detained for allegedly wearing a headscarf improperly. What started as anger at her death quickly grew into a movement led by young Iranians, who took to the streets to air their wide-ranging grievances against Iran's rulers.

NPR heard those grievances in conversation with people on the streets of Tehran, who said life in Iran sometimes felt impossible. They described an economy in which basic needs like food and medicine are punishingly expensive, unemployment is rampant, and a restricted internet has left them feeling cut off from the world.

Some blamed U.S.-led sanctions, but many accused their own government of mismanagement and brutality.