“My first reaction,” he said, was “prices will go up again — more misery.”

His white earbuds dangled on his shoulders, blasting hip-hop. “I love hip-hop,” Mr. Akbari said. “It’s the voice of the frustrated.”

In Tehran, the metro station filled up and drained empty of passengers. The pink bus driving up from Shahid Beheshti Street stopped at Sadeghiyeh Square. Elderly women got out. The bus driver turned around for another round. Daily routines — but something felt off.

A doctor carrying two shopping bags asked me if I had a job for her daughter.

“She studied industrial management and is really smart,” said the doctor, Marzieh Mirzaei. “But the only offer she got was to work in a pharmacy for one million tomans a month. Do you know how much that is in dollars?”

“Around $150,” I answered.

“Well, would you work for that?” she asked.

No, I said.

Another man, who gave his name only as Amir, did not want to talk about Mr. Trump’s decision at first. A 36-year-old father of two boys, he was sitting in a tiny booth in the Golriz shopping center, selling water pipes and Zippo lighters.

“How miserable have we become that this Trump should play a role in our lives,” Amir said. “How miserable are we that our leaders constantly want to pick fights with everybody.”

He insisted that I write down the following: “I want to live a normal life. Amir from Iran wants a normal life.”

Few people in Tehran took part during the nationwide protests in over 80 cities in December and January. Most middle-class urbanites thought the protests were more an outpouring of frustration and anger than a movement with a clear goal.