Innocent Burden

Yalda Eslami

March 10, 2025

                                                                     Innocent Burden

        When I was younger, life was more normal for me and my family. We could live comfortably, travel abroad, and buy whatever we wanted, but in the past 5 years, everything changed. Sanctions are rules that one country puts on another to punish or control its actions. The United States and other countries put sanctions on Iran because they believed the Iranian government was doing things they didn’t agree with, specially making nuclear weapons. Thus, they blocked Iran from selling oil, stopped Iranian banks from working with other countries, and made it difficult for people in Iran to do business with other countries. However, average people like my family were not involved. We just wanted to live our lives, but the sanctions have made everything harder. As a result, the price of everything went up and travelling abroad became harder because of visas. Exchange against the dollar worsened, creating many problems for my sister and me.

      One of the biggest effects of the sanctions was on my sister’s life in London. Like my other cousins, my sister decided to go to London for her education. At first, the process was smooth. When she applied, everything went well, and she was accepted. However, after a few years, the value of the British pound increased significantly, which made things much harder for her. My father was sending her money, but when exchanging it into pounds, the value of the money became almost nothing. In addition, sending money became difficult because the sanctions made currency exchange much harder, and sometimes, my father had to try many ways to send her money, which was stressful for both him and my sister.

         One of the most challenging effects of the sanctions was on traveling. My family used to travel abroad two or three times a year, and after my sister moved to London, traveling and flying was the only way we could see her. We wanted to visit her for a few weeks; however, because of the high prices, it was becoming almost impossible, and plane tickets and hotels became too expensive. Many families couldn’t even buy basic things like food or medicine, let alone travel, so the quality of life for everyone got worse. It didn’t matter whether people were rich or poor because sanctions made life harder for everyone. The routines people followed, such as vacations or buying necessities, became difficult, which made people sad and worried, including my family.

        Moreover, one of the hardest effects of the sanctions was on my own education. When I turned eighteen, I wanted to study abroad like my sister. Since the cost of that was too high, I decided to stay in Iran for my bachelor’s degree. My plan was to finish my degree in Iran and then get a scholarship to study abroad. However, things got worse as prices kept increasing while people’s salaries and incomes remained low in contrast to the rising cost of living. This situation put pressure on students and families, so studying abroad felt like a dream. At this age, many dream about having their own place or car in their country. However, because of the economy in Iran, even working an academic job at the age of thirty wouldn’t provide enough money or resources to be independent. People act like they were happy sometimes, but deep down, everyone was stressed about the future.

  

      Now I live in the U.S., but I am still worried about my future in the U.S. because every time I see the news, I check to see if something bad has happened that could affect Iranian people living abroad. Iran is always in the news, and it is scary because my sister is still in London. She says she is always stressed about her visa, and I have a lot of stress about my visa too. These feelings are heavy, like carrying weight all the time. This is the innocent burden that my family, and many others carry. The sanctions were supposed to affect the government, but instead, they made life harder for average people. Hopefully, one day things will get better, but no one knows when.