On Tuesday, in Tehran, Mr. Trump’s open invitation seemed to be on everybody’s mind. Increasingly desperate, many say they would welcome any option that could ease Iran’s economic quagmire.

The Iranian currency, the rial, has lost 80 percent of its value during the past year — and nearly 20 percent just in the past few days. Foreign investors have left to avoid new American sanctions that take effect starting in less than a week. And almost every week low-level protests over prices or wages erupt somewhere in the country that have the potential to spread if the economic free-fall worsens.

Mr. Moniri, the contractor, said he feared that what is considered bad now could get a lot worse. “So we should welcome talks,” he said. “Our leaders should welcome this opportunity.”

But if anything, Iran’s leaders seem paralyzed by Mr. Trump’s offer.

Direct talks with the United States go against their ideology. And in their minds, sitting down publicly with Mr. Trump, whom they have called particularly ignorant, capricious, arrogant and rude, would be an especially humiliating submission to imperialism and pressure.

When dealing with the United States over the past decades, Iranian leaders have often preferred to do it through secret talks, far from ordinary Iranians, who are bombarded daily with organized anti-Americanism from their schoolbooks to state television.