DUBAI/LONDON ¨C Iran¡¯s theocratic rulers have seen off a U.S. military campaign but their real problems may be about to begin: managing the competing demands of hard-liners buoyed by surviving the onslaught and those of an impoverished, angry people.

Iran¡¯s powerful hard-liners are energized by a three-month confrontation they feel Iran has won. They want the leadership to take a tough stance in coming talks with the U.S. and prioritize rearming, confident they can halt any internal dissent with force.

Ordinary Iranians, however, are desperate for any peace dividend or financial relief to be used in raising living standards and offering better prospects after a destructive war that has followed years of painful sanctions.

Both camps have high expectations, conflicting demands ?and little patience. Looming in the background is the specter of renewed mass protests like the unrest authorities quashed in January by killing thousands of demonstrators.

¡°The moment the war ends, and as this ?interim deal ?is shaky, the actual problems for Iran¡¯s clerical establishment will start,¡± said Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin.

Four Iranian officials ?and one former official described the pressures now facing the Islamic Republic as its population turns from war to survey the ruins of their economy.

Three of those officials said there was a public expectation that any financial relief the government has won from suspended sanctions or restoration of assets would be used to boost the economy and improve people¡¯s lives.

One of them, a senior official, who described Iranians as ¡°weary of war and economic ?hardship,¡± said funds would likely be directed toward reconstruction, liquidity injections for banks and broader economic support.

All four officials either openly acknowledged or alluded to the risks of renewed protests if the authorities failed to improve living standards. One described the deal ?to end the war as ¡°a double-edged sword¡± given the heightened level of public expectation.

The former official, a reformist, said the risks were well understood at the highest levels of Iran¡¯s leadership and that this was one of the reasons Tehran had accepted the deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The memorandum to end the war, which Iran and the U.S. are to sign on Friday, is expected ?to include some financial relief for Iran with more to follow if the sides ?can conclude a wider deal later this summer.

Iran¡¯s economy faces very high inflation, a tumbling currency, widespread unemployment and, since the war began, massive damage to industry and infrastructure that will be very expensive to fix.

¡°From a domestic perspective, Iran now has a limited window to bring internal conditions under control. The United States has always...