War is commonly examined through military, political, economic, and strategic indicators. Yet war can also affect how societies imagine desirable life, desirable social relations, and desirable futures. This article introduces the concept of the “social dream” as an analytical lens for examining this less explored dimension of war. Social dream is defined here as a collective, meaningful, and future-oriented image of desirable life and a desirable society, formed through culture, historical experience, social relations, material conditions, and dominant and competing narratives. The article examines the extent to which the 40-day Iran–United States–Israel war of 2026 created conditions for the reconfiguration of this social dream in Iran. The argument is deliberately cautious: available evidence does not establish that the war produced a single, uniform, or irreversible transformation in Iranian society. Rather, the war constituted a major social shock capable of exposing, reinforcing, redefining, or displacing existing aspirations. Drawing on sociological literature on future imaginaries and dreams, studies of identity and discourse in Iran, evidence concerning the 2026 war, and post-conflict scholarship, the article identifies seven analytical dimensions of social dream: security, identity and belonging, independence and international status, dignified and ordinary life, justice and dignity, participation and trust, and future and hope. It argues that the postwar social dream may develop through three overlapping processes: continuity, redefinition, and displacement. Particular attention is given to the emergence of “the dream of ordinary life” as a potentially significant analytical category linking security, economic stability, family well-being, dignity, social participation, and the capacity to plan for the future. The article concludes that the study of war should extend beyond changes in material and institutional conditions to include possible changes in the social imagination of the future.