I guess the question is, to what extent are the people currently running Iran responsive to the plight of Iranian small business owners - and what shape and direction will the anger of such business owners take?

The economy was approaching death spiral before this war started. Hyperinflation triggered the revolt in January. The regime might have repressive capacity to keep revolts down for now, but collapse of electricity grid, supply chains, water supply and currency will affect its freedom of action

I guess the flipside of that equation from their perspective might be, soon after the bombs stop falling people might start asking the reasonable question of why the state is failing to provide basic services... ... it's a lot easier to explain why nothing works when the Great Satan is bombing.

If blaming the US would have been enough then you wouldn't get revolts in Iran in the first place. The Americans have been squeezing Iran for decades and the January protests happened after the 12 day war in the summer. The regime is vulnerable in a postwar era if it can't get FDI for reconstruction

I'm not sure I follow that rebuttal. Blaming the US/Israel obviously doesn't work forever, but it probably works while they're actively bombing you. The protests didn't happen during the 12 day war, they happened like 6 months after... which is kind of my point.

The regime IS in a vulnerable position in the postwar era if it can't unlock FDI, capital and sell its oil. Which is why it may err on the side of keeping things rumbling to delay the 'postwar' bit...