Well before the latest wave of protests in Iran, Saeed, a tech entrepreneur in Tehran, was ready for them.

For months, it felt as if he and his country were in free-fall. He had spent many sleepless nights since Israeli forces battered Iran’s nuclear facilities in June agonising over his family’s future and whether more war was inevitable. A deepening economic crisis forced him to lay off his employees. All the while, Iran’s plummeting currency was evaporating his savings.