Iran Unveiled
On August 7th people in Teheran woke up to a grim reality. That day marked the first stage in a number of sanctions which Washington has re-imposed on the country, in the hopes of bringing the Iranian government back to the negotiating table and work out yet another nuclear deal. This comes three years after the P5+1 group of powers (U.S., U.K., France, China, Russia–plus Germany) secured a landmark agreement to keep Iran from developing its nuclear capabilities, in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions that have put the country under years of financial pressure.
Now, tensions are on the rise again after President Trump withdrew his country from the 2015 accord earlier this year, calling it a “horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made”. These first set of measures by the U.S. specifically target the country’s purchase of American dollars, trade in metals, coal, industrial-related software, and even products like carpets and pistachios; all of which have caused yet another severe blow for people’s purchasing power in an already isolated and feeble market. Things are only certain to get worse in November once a second round of restrictions is put into place, affecting critical sectors like oil, shipping, insurance and even the central bank’s clout. According to some analysts Iran’s oil exports are expected to shrink from 2.7 million barrels a day, to 1.5 million, which is certain to put the regime in an even tighter spot by the end of the year.
Despite the government’s efforts to keep its official currency afloat, the rial (IR) has lost more than 50% of its value since the Trump administration announced its re-imposition of sanctions earlier this year. By early April, the rial had hit a record low, trading for as much as 50,000 per dollar, as citizens rushed to buy foreign currencies amidst a great uncertainty, to which the government responded with the temporary closure of all exchange bureaus in order to avoid a major currency crisis. In August, however, things looked even worse as the exchange rate sunk to IR 120,000 per-dollar in the black market, even despite the government’s ban on trading above the official rate of IR 42,000 to the U.S. dollar.
The rial’s sudden devaluation has not only unleashed a huge rise on imported goods, but has also caused a number of Western companies to shut-down operations in Iran amidst fears of further sanctions by Washington, should these continue to operate in the middle eastern country. The European Commission has also responded to this by telling its firms not to pull out of the country unless they are granted authorization by the union’s executive, a clear sign of the deteriorating relations between Brussels and the Trump administration.
To make matters worse, thousands of protestors have taken to the streets in what has become the largest wave of unrest since the beginning of the year. Whether these new sanctions, which Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has labeled as “psychological warfare”, will prompt Tehran to negotiate another nuclear deal is still unclear, and seemingly unlikely. What is certain is that Trump’s actions will further undermine relations between the U.S. and its Western allies, who are desperately trying to salvage the nuclear deal and put a break to Washington’s biting restrictions, all to no avail.
But, how exactly do Iranians live and react in the midst of this diplomatic melee? What are their thoughts on their country’s leaders? And what do they expect from the future? This chronicle of our visit to Iran reveals some of the truths and myths about life in the Islamic republic, its economy and society, as well as the multiple complexities and contradictions that are frequently found inside the Islamic Republic. Does Iran stand a chance to go from pariah state to a global player? The following accounts were compiled during a 12-day trip to the country through some of its main cities and landmarks. The names of all people have been omitted to protect their privacy.
The Route to the East
It’s around midday and we find ourselves inside an Austrian aircraft heading to Tehran. The flight is so far like any other western flight: food and drinks are served on the plane and the stewardesses are dressed in the same fashion in any other western destination. We are seated next to a man in a suit who is traveling with a funny-looking musical instrument; it is a setar, a type of Persian lute that looks somewhere between a guitar and a mandolin. To our amazement, the middle-aged man is a successful architect and the president of an important design firm in the city of Shiraz. He tells us that he obtained a PhD in Vienna and that he was married to an Austrian woman before coming back to Iran. The conversation continues and just a few moments later, he kindly encourages us to pay him a visit to taste the regional specialties of his hometown.
The flight is 3.5 hours long and the conversation flows smoothly. Before we know it, we enter the Iranian airspace and the cabin crew reminds all passengers that no alcohol or narcotics are allowed inside the country, and that women are to cover their hair and necks with a scarf. Almost immediately, in what would look like an adaption of Ben Affleck’s Argo, all of the women onboard (stewardesses included) undergo a quick transformation and cover their heads with different sorts of light cloths in compliance with the local regulations. The plane lands briefly afterwards and we go through customs to be picked up by our prearranged driver. It feels somewhat surreal. To be let inside, without the slightest interrogation or inspection, into a country which former U.S. President George W. Bush used to call part of the “Axis of Evil”. It is a sort of déjà vu now that the country finds itself once more under the international spotlight, particularly after President Trump has started to tighten its grip on its fragile economy.
Halfway down to our hotel in the capital, our driver offers to us to exchange money with a colleague at an unofficial rate, which is almost 50% cheaper than the official rate against the U.S. dollar. This is the first sign of the staggering inflation which the country has undergone since the nuclear accord was called into question.
After arriving at our hotel, we go out for dinner to a fancy restaurant in the area, where we have a generous portion of minted lamb chops and a savory (and seemingly all-natural) pistachio ice cream under the nightly summer heat. By now we know that any beer or wine will have to wait until the end of the trip given Islamic Republic’s long-standing ban on alcohol.
Tehran
The watch now marks nine o’clock in the morning and our tour guide awaits at the lobby of our hotel. He’s a charismatic man in his late thirties who welcomes us with a friendly introduction. He is unmarried (something uncommon for a man of his age) and seems to be pleased to lead a group of young people, for a change. He tells us that most of the tourist who venture into Iran are older men and women from countries like Germany, France, and Australia, with a few other nationalities in between, for which he seems excited to start the trip with our small group of Latin American travelers.
While Iran’s tourism industry is still quite small when compared to that of other countries, it does seem that tourists are becoming increasingly interested in the country, and that the sector has grown significantly in the last couple of years — particularly after the lifting of sanctions following the 2015 nuclear deal. By March 2017, Iran was receiving more than 6 million tourists per year, a staggering increase from the 300,000 international excursionists who entered the country in 2003. Now, however, the trend is likely to be reversed given the re-imposition of sanctions, affecting hundreds of thousands of people who have found a stable lifeline in tourism and hospitality.
We meet our driver slightly afterwards and greet him with a simple ‘salaam’ (meaning ‘hello’ in Farsi, Iran’s official language) before he takes us to the National Museum, where one can fully grasp the country’s millenary history, its Persian heritage, as well as the particular syncretism that developed with Zoroastrianism and the arrival of Islam around the mid-7th century A.D.. It is also slightly striking to see some of the last exhibits referring to the human evolution, given Islam’s diverse, and sometimes conflicting, views on the topic. Our guide, a devout Muslim himself, would later on confirm these common contradictions by giggling at the thought of humans descending from monkeys.
We visit a local bazaar and a mosque where people not only answer the day’s calls for prayer, but also take shelter from the summer’s punishing heat and have a quick pause from work. Shorts and sleeveless shirts are considered inappropriate, even in men, for which people take every chance to cool down during the day. One can also tell that Iranians are not really used to seeing international tourists: unlike in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, shopkeepers do not chase down potential buyers to make a sale if they refuse their products. The market is a busy place with carts and sellers going here and there, but the atmosphere is cordial and people seem, quite literally, to mind their own businesses despite the recent surge in prices, reason for which sellers are happy to take U.S. dollars for their products. What is certain, however, is that the toughest blows to the common consumer are sure to be felt within the ensuing months after the latest sanctions have been imposed on the Islamic nation, for which it is still too soon to know what these markets will look like in a few months’ time.
The World Bank lists Iran as an upper middle income country given its GNI (gross national income) per capita. It also counts with an extensive road infrastructure, litter-free streets and a relatively large middle class. In some respects, Iran seems more developed than other nations of its kind, and more equal (albeit slightly) than other similar economies, like Mexico for instance. It is also an attractive market for international investors, with more than 80 million inhabitants, a large percentage being young adults between the ages of 20 to 35 years old. At a first glance, women also participate actively in the economy, but in reality this turns out to be a deceiving perception, given that Iran is one worst-ranked countries in gender equality, where women comprise up to 50% of university graduates but only a meagre 17% participate in the workforce. This figure is also significantly lower than the average in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, calculated at 20%. This figure is likely to worsen as the new trade restrictions loom over the Persian country.
Anti-Zionist messages like the one above are a common find in the capital.
After leaving the bazaar, we are left to our own devices by our guide and head to the Tabi’at Bridge in northern Tehran, an internationally acclaimed pedestrian overpass that connects two of the city’s main parks and hangs over the Modares highway — one of the capital’s busiest and most distinctive roads. The bridge, conceived by female Iranian architect Leila Araghian, has become one of Teheran’s modern landmarks and it is a favorite location for young couples and families who like to go for a stroll as the heat dwindles in the evening.
We then go further up north and take a steep walk in the hiking trail of Darband, a popular commercial lane where people can take a break from Tehran’s busy traffic and air pollution. Darband is at the foothills of Mount Tochal, where several ski trails get packed with locals during the snowy winter season. During the rest of the year, the once distant village, booms with restaurants and street vendors who offer all sorts of refreshments and snacks under their bright neon lights and terraces overhanging the small Darband River. It is a magical and unexpected place for a city of 8 million people.
In the evening, we happen to make friends with a young expat who takes us out for dinner along the Fereshteh Street, an affluent boulevard which defies any expectation that a Western visitor could ever have of the country. The area is full of luxurious restaurants and boutique hotels where both men and women look too cosmopolitan for Iran’s fanatic theocracy. Wealthy locals, diplomats and foreign investors roam the storefronts, while a wide range of luxurious cars — Audi, Range Rovers and Mercedes-Benz and the like — drive down the street with their owners seemingly unscathed by the rial’s dramatic devaluation. “Many belong to wealthy Iranian-Americans who have properties in Iran”, says our companion before taking us to a lavish fusion restaurant next to the striking Melal Boutique Mall, a shopping center where Hi-Fi audio stores visibly sell vinyls of The Rolling Stones, and other luxury brands offer all sorts of western fashion items for Iranian socialites and foreign money-spenders. Another striking sight here is the amount of ‘nose jobs’ that one sees among well-off Iranians; of late, Tehran has become the world capital for this type of procedure, even more so than Hollywood or Sao Paulo in Brazil. Cosmetic nose surgery, we are told, is almost a rite of passage for Iranian women (and also for men recently), who regard it as the new status symbol in the capital.
The image is hard to believe, here the regime’s Islamic rule doesn’t seem to apply for the rich and prominent, many of whom have the means to bribe the local authorities and get away with extravagant house parties where the consumption of alcohol is commonplace. This version of Tehran is radically different from the one depicted in recent documentaries like Raving Iran, where two DJs face constant imprisonment for producing underground techno, a strictly forbidden genre by the country’s morality police, who deem it perverse and anti-Islamic. “Here everyone has their own (alcohol) dealer. People take pride in the quality of liquor they can get their hands on”, comments our guide for the night: “Anything seems possible as long as you don’t engage in activism or challenge the authorities visibly. That’s something that the government will just not tolerate”. We then continue discussing some of the common ideas and misconceptions which many of us seem to have about the country: how men and women can safely walk out in the streets at night, and how welcoming Iranians are to foreign guests, especially given that the presence of tourists is still something of a novelty.
The conversation lingers well into the night, for which we finally call a taxi and head back downtown. Our driver happens to be a man in his forties who is sporting a thick moustache à la Frank Zappa, and a long, black ponytail. Halfway down the road he turns on the radio to an all-too-familiar song, he is playing the Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’.
Shiraz
The next day we visit the sumptuous Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for being the official residence of Iran’s Qajar dynasty until 1925. It is one of many dazzling cultural sites which we will see along the way as we reveal the country’s multicultural and multiethnic background. We exit the palace and head out of the city for a quick stop at the famous Azadi Tower. It is impossible not to marvel at its colossal marble structure and its 8,000 blocks of stone, reminders of the once pro-western government of the Pahlavi dynasty before the coming of the Islamic Revolution.
We head out once more to Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, and fly out towards the south. It is a short flight and we land in Shiraz just a few hours later, leaving the capital’s chaotic landscape behind. There, our second driver awaits at the terminal. He is a young man who welcomes us and our guide with a friendly handshake and a grin under his carefully-trimmed moustache. We are now in the south of the country and are taken to a small but charming hotel in the historic core of the city, where we are to spend the next couple of nights.
Shiraz is Iran’s fifth most populous city, with 1.5 million inhabitants and a rich legacy of poetry and arts, making it an obligatory stop for most visitors in the country. As the night falls down we are led to the holy shrine of Shah-e-Cheragh, one of the most important places of pilgrimage for Shia Muslims around the world. We are met at the entrance by a young woman wearing a large black cloak over her head and body. It is a black Chador, a common garment which women are expected to wear in places of worship. To our amazement, she turns out to be an engineer who works on machine learning and volunteers to do guided tours of the mausoleum during her free time.
The woman takes us inside the majestic complex while she patiently unveils the story of the twelve imams, considered to be the spiritual and political successors of the prophet Muhammad in Shia Islam, the predominant branch in Iran (although Shiites still represent a clear minority among Muslims, constituting between 10–20% of all believers worldwide). This divide is fundamental for devout Iranians, who come to the complex to pay their respects to the brothers of Imam Reza, martyred during the persecution of Shiites by the Abbasid caliphs in the early 9th century.
We bid farewell to our host and the sanctuary, while our male guide stops to call for a wheelchair to assist an elderly woman who has just finished her nightly prayer and is waiting by the steps of the shrine. It is late and we head back to our hotel after eating a lamb kebab with a generous plate of Persian saffron rice.
The next day we go to Nasir al-Mulk, better known as “the Pink Mosque”, probably Iran’s most renowned and colorful attraction, featured on countless book covers and travel guides for the country. We then visit the nearby mosque of Ali Ebn-e Hamze and notice the presence of journalists and cameramen inside the compound. Our guide explains that we are in the middle of an Azan competition, where a jury selects those who are able to sing the best call-for-prayer, in accordance with the Islamic tradition and vocal sounds. It is a slightly unsettling sight for a foreign audience, unfamiliar with the sound of the Persian scales and its mysterious sonic intervals. It also comes to our minds how unacquainted the west is with these chants, and how easily any ill-intentioned person could leak a clip of these singers and spread panic on social media — for a few moments at least — with a sufficiently scandalous headline, something quite fathomable in an age when fake news and online misinformation convert thousands of clicks into instant profits.
We leave the Azan contest under an intense heat and head to the imposing Zand complex with its castles and gardens and take a moment to capture some of the most beautiful Persian facades that we have been able to see until now. We also visit the tomb of Hafez, a Persian poet whose works are among the most beloved in Persian literature and have been translated from Farsi into dozens of different languages.
We go for a stroll as the night falls down and our guide takes us out for a taste of one of his countrymen’s favorite treats: ice cream. Given Iran’s strict control of alcohol — with official punishments ranging from lashes and up until death penalty for third-time offenders — , citizens find their cold treats in thick milkshakes and ice creams, which acquire a very special texture due to the cream and starch that is thrown into the mix. “It’s the perfect place to take a girl on a date”, says our smiling guide, who claims to know the best ice cream shops in every city in the country. We finish our sweet treats outside the mystic citadel of Karim Khan, a favorite spot for families and youngsters who go out for a walk at night. The air is filled with music and it is now time to prepare for the next day as we walk back to our hotel through the city’s narrow alleyways.
It is early morning and time for a quick breakfast. We have now gotten used to the savory taste of Iranian white cheese and their wheat flatbread, also known as ‘Sangak’. We have a strong coffee, put on sufficient sunblock to face the 40°C in the shade which await outside, and we are ready to go after checking any last messages.
So far we have been able to get a Wi-Fi connection almost anywhere and have been able to use WhatsApp, Instagram, and other social media platforms, with the notable exceptions of Facebook and Twitter. By now, however, we have learned that the use of VPN’s is commonplace among Iranians, especially the young, who mask their online identities by encrypting their online activity with this kind of software.
We head out to the arid countryside and visit a local nomadic tribe in the hills outside of Shiraz, they are called “Qashqai” and are widely known in the region for their carpet weaving skills. Upon our arrival, a family invites us for lunch and prepare a large plate of rice and juicy raisins, as well some yoghurt and home-made butter to complement this traditional food. Their hospitality is remarkable. We have a long chat about their traditions and their country, all while taking shelter from the restless sun inside the humble shepherds’ tents. After the meal, one of the family’s youngest members takes out a German-made violin and surprises us with a local folk tune, in which we recognize the Middle Eastern musical patterns which we had heard the night before at the mosque. We are then given a cup of traditional tea before heading back to the city and thank our hosts by putting a hand over our hearts, a common sign of appreciation in the Middle East, and saying a now-familiar Kheili mamnoon (meaning ‘many thanks’ in Farsi).
We stop at a small coffee shop upon our return to the city. It is run by a couple of young men who call our attention for listening to Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam” out in the open. We knew from a few documentaries about Iran’s underground heavy metal scene, but listening to America’s most notorious metal band, in plain daylight, is not what one would expect in the city’s main square, at least not outside of the capital. We talk a bit and exchange a few words regarding the shared music taste, for which we buy a couple of frozen coffees from them and sit down to enjoy our drinks as the sun goes down outside a local bazaar.
Later on that night we go out again and visit our friend, the architect whom we had met on our flight to Tehran, at his design firm. It is a large penthouse in a building where he runs a café and several offices. There, he treats us with cake, tea and some westernized mocktails, all under a clear summer night sky. He tells us about his time in Europe, the completion of his challenging PhD in Austria, and what it took to establish an international clientele and reputation for a man coming from Iran. He represents a well-educated group in the country, and not only does he run his own architecture firm, but he is also the editor of a thick monthly architectural magazine in Farsi and English, of which he proudly gives us a copy. He is a fantastic host and an interesting conversation partner, which surely explains part of his business’s success and his international experience. Unfortunately, even despite his skills and charisma, this month’s re-imposed sanctions will likely affect his company and many others with foreign ties. Luckily for him though, his dual nationality will probably allow him to keep securing projects abroad. Many others nonetheless, the lower-income classes in particular, may not be as lucky.
We keep chatting for a while and leave our friend with a firm handshake, before taking a cab and going back for dinner to a restaurant close to the city center. There, we finish the day a full plate of chicken kebab, grilled tomatoes, and the now-familiar Persian rice.
Tracing a Millenary Past
We head out into the center of the country and into yet a hotter climate. We are driving towards the city of Yazd, a city in central Iran known for its Persian desert architecture, its underground water tunnels and Zoroastrian temples, many of them still in operation. We are meant to spend the night in the desert, retracing the steps of the of the Silk Road merchants who were connecting East and West more than 2,000 years ago. We stop at the ruins of Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Achaemenid — or First Persian — Empire, which shone brightly through its great halls and monumental stairways until succumbing to the wrath of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE.
The remnants of the city bear witness to a once mighty civilization stretching from Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula, all the way to the Indus Valley in present-day India. Even in ruins it is a breathtaking sight, where hundreds of once-colorful statues and stone-reliefs reveal a stunning degree of artistry and craftsmanship that do little justice to what must have been a magnificent capital 2,500 years ago.
Ironically, the lower part of the archeological complex also holds the remains of the tents where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi held one of the most extravagant parties in history, commemorating the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire in 1971. The celebration is said to have cost between $100 and $200 million (depending on the source), with more than 160 chefs being flown in from Paris to amuse some of the world’s most prominent royals and dignitaries of the time. It is thus, no wonder that the Shah’s lavish lifestyle was also one of the causes that fueled the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Moments later, still under a relentless sun, we stop by the ancient necropolis of Naqsh-e Rustam, a few kilometers northwest of Persepolis. The site consists of a cliff were the tombs of the great Persian kings of the Achaemenid and Sassanid dynasties were carved, until being sacked during the Macedonian conquest of Persia. The tombs are believed to be those of Darius I (c. 522–486 BC), Xerxes I (c. 486–465 BC), Artaxerxes I (c. 465–424 BC), and Darius II (c. 423–404 BC), although it is only the first one that has been identified with certainty. We now resume our way north while trying to resist the heat in our compact passenger van and we notice some murals and propaganda on several roadside walls and buildings. The images depict a bunch of books and what we understand to be a reference to the value of education, a sight which also resonates in a with Iran’s rich historical past. One gets the impression that Iranians actually have a good education system, with around 70% of the population enrolled in tertiary education according to recent estimates by the World Bank. Most of the people with whom we have talked seem to have known a fair deal of western pop culture, and youngsters find ways to trick the system by consuming western media and other sites through black-market acquisitions, and their VPN-loaded smartphones, tablets and computers.
This, however, does not go without controversy. Public schools in Iran also seem to indoctrinate students with the state’s hard-line political views: many believe, for instance, that major historical events like the Holocaust were invented by the Jewish community — with the help of the United States — to justify the creation of Israel, something reported in previous occasions by international media and even some couch-surfing blogs for the country.
Night falls down and we are still on the road, our driver patiently shaking his head to the beat of a mixture of house and Persian music. We feel quite familiar with our guide by that point and feel the need to satisfy our curiosities through some more personal questions: “Have you ever tried alcohol? One of us inquires. “No. I have never done it, and I would never want to. I try to be a good Muslim” he replies with a smile on his face; probably getting those sorts of questions all the time from other inquisitive foreigners. To our surprise, he also turns out to be a trained geometrician with a deep love for mathematics, an unexpected background for a tour guide in the middle of the desert. He is a devout man as well. The background image on his tablet says “Love all, do harm to none” (perhaps an adaptation of Shakespeare’s similar quote?). And as the group becomes better acquainted, he increasingly excuses himself to answer the two or three calls-for-prayer that we hear during the day with him. “Heaven is calling. I will attend the prayer and meet you in that café in ten minutes”, he would say before thanking us repeatedly for our understanding.
In the Heart of the Desert
We are back at a main road and we can see the inn where we will spend the night. It has been a 7-hour ride and our driver seems like he could use a good night’s rest. The place is a former Caravanserai, a rustic establishment where merchants and travelers would have food and lodging during their perilous travels through the desert. The 400-year old building has now been acquired by two local investors who run it as a modern, albeit simple, hotel. We go up to the terrace and encounter two Italian and German families traveling with their respective children. The sky is pitch black, for which we barely sleep at all after seeing the Milky Way in all its splendor.
The next day we bid farewell to the campsite and finally reach the city of Yazd, which is also oftentimes called the “City of Windcatchers” for its widespread use of towers that cool the air in people’s homes, a clever ventilation system going back thousands of years and which can still be found in former noblemen’s houses and some other modern buildings.
Yazd is another World Heritage Site protected by UNESCO and it is known for its small Zoroastrian community, for which several temples and ruins can be found in the city and its surroundings, proof that Iran is also home to some religious minorities (Jews and Christians included) who also live under the government’s Islamic rule.
We spend the rest of the day visiting the famous Amir Chakhmaq complex and the adjacent Jameh Mosque, where our guide (unable to hide his excitement for the Mosque’s history) reveals that he would like to further his studies abroad to learn more about history and other subjects. After asking him whether he would apply for a scholarship or a student visa in Europe he says with a slight tone of disbelief: “The problem is that people over there think that we are all terrorists! So it is very hard for me to get a visa somewhere else”. We notice that our guide seems to take this with a slight sense of humor, for which he gives us a smile before carrying on to explain the history of the mosque’s minarets.
The next day we head out to the arid road once again and make a stop at the mountain village of Chak Chak, one of the holiest shrines for thousands of Zoroastrians from Iran, India and other parts of the world, who complete their pilgrimages to the village’s mystic fire temple. A few hours later we stop at the town of Meybod, known for its pre-Islamic castles and abandoned settlements where locals and visitors like to stop for a picture. We then eat at the home of an elderly woman and her brother, who prepare a savory eggplant stew and a yoghurt drink for our group. We thank them with the help of our guide as he comes back from a quick prayer, for which we prepare to hit the road once more.
The heat now grows stronger as we approach the village of Garmeh, an oasis at the gates of the Mesr desert, where we are to spend the night and prepare for an early wake-up call, not without stopping at a local spring where we are able to dip our feet in cold, crystal-clear water under the shade of some palm trees. It is — after all — an actual oasis where the vegetation spreads out as far as the eye can see. By now the evening is warm and welcoming. The heat, we are also told, is way too strong after 9:00 in the morning, for which we agree to meet our drivers at dawn the next day before venturing into the desert dunes.
We meet before the sunrise and our driver introduces us to a couple of colleagues who will take us into the desert in two powerful off-road vehicles from the mid-nineties. “They are Japanese, the best of their kind” says one of the locals, with the help of our guide who is serving as translator. They drive us out into the desert with some loud electronic music in the background, a heavy mix of techno bass with Farsi in the vocals. We feel the sun’s rays slowly warming up the earth’s surface, and by eight o’clock it is almost impossible to walk on the sand without shoes, for which we choose a rocky plateau to have a quick breakfast, where we share some black tea, and our now-familiar Sangak bread, along with some cheese, tomato and cucumbers. We have some time for pictures on top of the endless dunes before stopping at some salt deposits along the way. It is now almost ten o’clock in the morning and the merciless heat forces us to head back onto the road.
It is another long ride for our driver, for which we try to start a conversation every now and then with him. We find out that he is very fond of sports and that he is part of an Ultimate-Frisbee league in his hometown Shiraz. He also has a girlfriend and he is a mere 28 years old, something hard to believe given his carefully trimmed moustache and calm temper. “It’s good!”, he often says with a huge smile when taking a selfie through his large iPhone at the various panoramic viewpoints where we stop along the way.
Isfahan
It is now the early afternoon and we have reached the city of Isfahan, located some 400 kilometers south of Tehran. Our guide has managed to book us a room in the great Abbasi Hotel, a majestic and luxurious building which many claim to be “the most beautiful hotel in the Middle East”. It is a spectacular place where a careful selection of Persian carpets and Mediterranean trees welcome its guests to a great courtyard, filled with affluent locals and well-off internationals who gather to eat and have a refreshment at any point during the day. It almost feels like the set of a James Bond movie, where one would expect to see the British spy in an all-white tuxedo ordering a (no vodka here) virgin martini; shaken, not stirred. The hotel also offers a luxurious pool and a spa where the rich and powerful can take shelter from the city’s summer heat.
We head out to town and find ourselves in front of a bone-dry river. It is the Zayanderud, a large body of water which is crossed by the Allahverdi Khan Bridge, one of Isfahan’s many historic landmarks. The night is closing in and the bridge is filled with hundreds of people: couples, youngsters and families who come out for a stroll along the structure’s stone arches. To our amazement, however, the river has run dry and the former stream is now a huge playing ground for football lovers. “There used to be a lot more water before. Now the government just opens the gates of the dams before election periods”, says our guide. The sight is inspiring nonetheless: people seem to enjoy life with a despite the country’s hardline regime.
Our guide now takes us to the other side of the river to one of his favorite ice cream parlors, where we finish the evening with a starchy saffron ice cream and the thickest Nutella milkshake we have ever tried in our lives.
Rising Unemployment
We have noticed an intriguing fact so far: there are no homeless people in Iran’s streets, at least until now, for which one would be led to believe that Iran has a functional welfare system. To our amazement though, recent reports suggest that many homeless people in the country are shamelessly forced out into the cities’ suburbs, many of them coping with drug addiction and mental disorders, often in places as grim as abandoned graveyards during the cold winter months. It is also believed that part of the problem has been caused by a dramatic rise in the production of opium sap by neighboring Afghanistan. Groups like the Taliban fund their insurrections through the export of the poppy resin, which can later be turned into heroin and other opiates. This health epidemic is only expected to rise with economic stagnation and higher unemployment (a likely outcome of the imminent sanctions over Iran) since the country is often the first transit point for the export of the drug to the rest of the world.
Domes, Carpets and… Yellowcake?
Isfahan is, arguably, Iran’s most beautiful city. It was one of the largest cities of the world during its former glory and served twice as capital of the Persian Empire. It is also known for its Islamic architecture, magnificent palaces, minarets and monuments which decorate its streets and avenues. And not only that, the city is also famous for its exquisite and prolific market for handicrafts and carpets, with many claiming that its artisans and those in neighboring Kashan produce the most beautiful hand-made textiles in the world. Strikingly though, the outskirts of Isfahan are notorious for holding a controversial secret: the area is home to a uranium conversion plant which is once more under international scrutiny, after the nearby facilities boosted their enrichment capacity in response to Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal earlier on this year.
After a long night’s sleep it, is time to resume our tour throughout the city. This will be the longest leg of the trip given Isfahan’s thrilling history and cultural significance.
We reach the Naqsh-e Jahan Square, one of the largest and most beautiful squares in the world where we see children playing in fountains and large amounts of people who roam the square’s gardens under the unforgiving sun. We make a stop at the Royal Mosque, only to marvel at its courtyards and facades, all filled with colorful mosaics and qur’anic-style writings. The dome inside the 400-year-old mosque is even more imposing given the complexity and detail of its patterns; so is the building’s Mihrab, an altar-like niche in the wall pointing believers to the direction of Mecca, which they must face at all times during prayer according to the Islamic rite.
On the exit we encounter a little stand which reads “Friendly Talks about Islam” to engage with tourists and visitors, and answer their questions regarding the Quran. The booth is run by a mullah, a forty-year-old cleric who answers to few of our ingenuous questions about the Islamic world. When asked whether one could buy a copy of the Quran in Persian calligraphy, the man keeps a soft gaze and replies calmly: “We never advise foreigners to read the Quran, because it is too complex and there are many parts which are often misinterpreted. There are however, a lot of books with Persian poetry which you can buy instead”, seemingly trying to discourage us from procuring a copy of the sacred book. The chat goes on and we exchange some final questions and answers about the Islamic influence on the Persian culture. Moments later we bid him farewell and continue our trip throughout the square, its mystic mosques and picturesque palaces.
The main square acquires a totally different atmosphere by nightfall. Families gather to make picnics under the bright moonlight, and one can see children playing with kites and other flashy toys, while carriages, bicycles and reckless scooters pass by through the square’s sidewalks every now and then. Shopkeepers and merchants also seem to prepare for their best sales of the day, since most of the people come out for a walk once after the sunset. There is a lot of commercial activity, with jewelers, carpet sellers, cartographers and artisans all offering their different products in the bright shops around the area. Most of their merchandise, however, seems aimed for locals and national tourists: proof of just how incipient Iran’s tourism industry is. Many locals, also ask for a picture with us when they notice that we are international visitors and that the women in our group are also wearing the traditional hijab required by Islamic law.
The next day we go out from the hotel after a generous Persian breakfast and are taken to Isfahan’s Music Museum, where we are taught how Iran luthiers build their peculiar setars and other stringed instruments. We are then brought to small concert hall where we encounter a large group of Chinese tourists who are spoken to in their own language by a local tour guide (a recurring sight given Iran’s close commercial ties with China). Much to our astonishment, the man happens to be a performer himself, and takes the stage along with other four musicians who play a number of Persian classics for us, with their dramatic vocals and mesmerizing scales.
We head down to New Julfa, the Armenian quarter of the city which is home to a small community of Armenians who live and work in the area. There, one can visit the Vank Cathedral, an awe-inspiring church whose walls are covered in frescoes depicting biblical passages as well as the horrors inflicted upon the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century. It is a rather stunning sight, but the church is yet another reminder along our way of the religious minorities whose rites and customs — until now at least — seem to be tolerated under the Ayatollah Khamenei’s fierce rule.
As the day goes by we are led to Isfahan’s iconic Jameh Mosque (not to be confused with that of Yazd which bears the same name) and go through its different hallways and colorful vaults. The complex also offers a historic journey through Islamic architecture given its various mosques and domes which have been constructed under different Persian dynasties, for which it makes for a perfect place to witness the evolution of the Islamic facades and the contrasting styles of calligraphy that have been used to interpret the Quran since the rise of Islam in the mid- seventh century.
On our way out of the mosque we notice a few middle-aged men who are using a hook-shaped tool to roll out a series of thin, red carpets in the main courtyard. “They are preparing for the weekend’s prayers”, says our guide with a certain pride in his voice. “Can we give it a try?” asks one of our group’s members. “Of course!” replies our guide after translating our request to the working men, for which they let us roll out some carpets before we realize that we are in for an exhausting task. “Allah will thank you” shouts one of the men after we give back their tools and let them carry on with their painstaking work.
As we are about to leave the complex, an all-too-familiar sight calls our attention: the mosque, just as any other public building in Iran, shows the image of the Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader and successor of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic and leader of the Iranian Revolution. These omnipresent portraits of Iran’s moral leaders, as well as their cult of personality, are a noticeable contradiction with the prohibition of visual representations of God and holy men in Islam, especially since many Iranians consider Ayatollah Khomeini and his successor to be saint-like figures.
Kashan
After three nights, the longest stay in our trip, we leave Isfahan and head towards the city of Kashan, famous for its palaces and colorful Persian gardens. We pass through the sumptuous Chehel Sotoun palace, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, whose pillars, fountains and frescoes were built for the amusement and receptions of Persian Shah Abbas II (1632–1666 AD). It is a fantastic place where we take a few moments for pictures, along with several families who have gone out to enjoy the city’s museums during the summer. We hit the road again and make a stop at the mountainous Abyaneh village, one of the oldest settlements in Iran, where all homes are made of a red-colored adobe which keeps its inhabitants cool during the summer and warm in the winter. A few hours later we reach Kashan, our final destination before heading back to Tehran the next day.
Kashan is a city of 250,000 inhabitants located some 250 kilometers away from Tehran. It is a place known for its pottery and carpets, as well its mansions of rich traders and merchants, many of which have now been turned into luxurious boutique hotels. We then spend the evening by visiting two of these estates: the Borujerdi and the Tabātabāei House, both historic buildings where one can appreciate the full splendor and wealth that was to be found in the Persian Empire during the Qajar dynasty of the 19th century.
After the sun goes down, we make a last stop at the Agha Bozorg Mosque, where our guide explains its unique architecture and its concealed Mihrab, where locals come to pray in the most intimate atmosphere.
It has been a long a long day, for which we are taken back to our quarters and call it a night.
The Road to Tehran: A short Pilgrimage
We are back in our van and repeatedly ask our driver to turn on the air conditioning, to which he responds that he must turn it off to get an extra boost while overtaking another vehicle. The air is so hot that one starts sweating just a few seconds after the AC has been turned off. Fortunately though, the drive to our next stop is rather short and we quickly reach the city of Qom, now just 1.5 hours away from Tehran.
Qom is one of the holiest cities in Shia Islam because of the Shrine of Fatimah bint Musa, daughter of the seventh Imam, Musa al-Kadhim, and sister of the eight, Ali al-Ridha, both considered rightful successors of the prophet Muhammad. Given the holy status of Lady Fatimah, her shrine is one of the most important places for pilgrims in Iran, for which thousands of people make their way to the city every year and pay their respects through hours of prayer, often bringing their whole families along.
After passing a thorough security check, we are met at the entrance of the shrine by another mullah, this one being an older man in his late sixties. We introduce ourselves and have a small chat with the cleric, while we wait for our female colleagues to put on the compulsory Chador. The sanctuary is packed with people from all sorts of origins: rich and humble travelers, all of whom come to pray (so does our tour guide) inside the shrine. The mullah who is leading us inside the complex is in charge of “international affairs and public relations” and, although seeming like a funny and optimistic man, he kindly asks us not to wander around without him or his surveillance (for security is tight and the authorities go to any lengths to avoid any potential attacks to the mosque). He then takes us through the complex and its courtyards, while he explains the history of the shrine, its construction, and draws our attention to the building’s impressive golden dome, fixed in 1803 above Fatima’s mausoleum.
The mullah turns out to be quite open and whimsical, for which we ask him as many questions as we can think of about Islam and the preparation of the mullahs. When asked, however, why Islam was so widely adopted after Muhammad’s travels, he (somewhat carefully) suggests that Islam — a personal view we assume — was so rapidly embraced throughout the Middle East for being considered a more ‘complete’ religion than the other monotheistic creeds of the time, thus making an analogy of Judaism as being a sort of ‘primary school’, with Christianism as a secondary one, and Islam being the equivalent of a spiritual ‘university’. Fearing to enter some potentially delicate terrain in the conversation, we then decide to switch to some more simple inquiries about the history of the shrine, to which he responds by explaining the mosque’s colorful domes and hallways. We then complete our visit by bidding farewell to the mullah with the typical Kheili Mamnoon and hitting the road for the last time.
Our last stop is just a few kilometers outside of Tehran, it is the tomb of Imam Khomeini, a colossal marble complex, around which a tourist center, a university for Islamic studies, and even a shopping mall revolve to honor the resting place of the leader of the Iranian Revolution. It is an imposing building on which the government is said to have spent more than 2 billion dollars (USD) since the beginning of its construction in 1989. After going through a careful security check (Khomeini’s tomb was attacked by a suicide bomber in 2017), we rejoin our guide in the middle of an enormous hall where pilgrims of all sorts come to pray and relax inside a colossal air-conditioned structure.
The mausoleum consists of a large hall of massive proportions, in which not only Khomeini and his family rest, but also some prominent members of the revolution of 1979. We are sitting over an immense Persian carpet which adorns the hallway, while our guide explains how the complex is meant to grow in the future and how the leaders of the Islamic Republic gather every year at Khomeini’s tomb to commemorate the supreme leader of the revolution, and to ‘show’ the direction in which the country is meant to go forward.
It is now 18:30 and we are finally back in Tehran. After bidding a sad farewell to our guide and driver (two men who have been incredibly kind to us during the whole trip) we take our rooms in preparation for our flight back to London the following day. We are hungry, though, and cannot resist the temptation of one last Iranian meal, for which we quickly head back to our preferred restaurant in Tehran: the Leon, which we remember from our first night in the capital. We treat ourselves to our last rack of lambs and sweet mocktails, before finishing the evening with a large pistachio ice cream and some coffee.
It has been an exhausting but thrilling trip altogether, for which we call a taxi and ask our driver to take us back to our hotel for the night. He is a young man in his twenties who does not seem too pleased with the regime. “It is terrible! We live in a dictatorship, you know?”, claims the motorist in fluent English, before dropping us off at our destination.
Back to the West
While it is hard to draw a sole conclusion of such a complex country and society after a 12-day trip, it is safe to say that the opinions and sentiments towards the Iranian government, its theocratic rule, and even the country’s history, are as diverse as the people who inhabit the country. And while Iran’s governing elite is surely to blame for the systematic corruption and economic instability that prevails in the country, the newly imposed sanctions by the West are likely to turn Iran into an even more hostile and unpredictable international actor, particularly in sight of the West’s increasing political divide.
The Evil West: Anti-American propaganda is a common sight on Iran’s streets.
Iranians, however, have a fascination for American pop culture and way of life.
Despite the government’s efforts to keep its official currency afloat, the rial (IR) has lost more than 50% of its value since the Trump administration announced its re-imposition of sanctions earlier this year. By early April, the rial had hit a record low, trading for as much as 50,000 per dollar, as citizens rushed to buy foreign currencies amidst a great uncertainty, to which the government responded with the temporary closure of all exchange bureaus in order to avoid a major currency crisis. In August, however, things looked even worse as the exchange rate sunk to IR 120,000 per-dollar in the black market, even despite the government’s ban on trading above the official rate of IR 42,000 to the U.S. dollar.
