Our memorable journey through Iran has come to an end after travelling more than 6000 km around the country by train and spending three full days in Tehran. It has been a truly amazing experience and it has to be said quite an eye-opener - there’s an enormous gulf between on the ground reality and what we have been led to expect from reports and commentary in western media.
Without exception, everywhere we travelled whether in cities or in rural areas, we were welcomed with the utmost courtesy and expressions of friendship and it made no difference at all whether we said we are Australian, British or American. In fact, our experience is that people express delight that Americans have chosen to visit Iran. Many people - men, women and children stopped us in the street or at tourist sights asking us where we’re from and wanting to take photos and selfies with us
Every train station we stop at, there are local officials on hand to greet and welcome us. At a couple of stations there were even local TV reporters asking for on-camera interviews with the same fatuous questions that their equivalents in the US, UK and Australia ask! At no time did we ever feel that we were being watched or threatened in any way. Our only interaction with officialdom was on arrival at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport (reported in an earlier blog) and then again on departure to Doha en route to Amman. On the way out of Iran, Qatar Airways check-in agent was curious about our one way ticket from Tehran to Amman. Where were we going after Amman? Could they see an onward ticket? I had no choice but to show evidence of our El Al flight in a couple of weeks from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles. In which case, how were we getting from Amman to Tel Aviv (by car....)? No problem in the end, but this was the only time during our time in Iran that we mentioned that we were headed to Israel
Iran - Middle East or Europe?
The two Pahlavi shahs and in particular Mohammed Reza, the last Shah, tried their utmost to secularize and westernize Iran. In 1921 when Reza Khan overthrew the last king of the Qajar dynasty, Iran (still called Persia) was a relatively backward and undeveloped country whose population were mostly faithful adherents of Shiite Islam with all of the cultural implications of such faith. Reza Khan’s hero and role model was Turkey’s Kemal Ataturk, but the Iranian’s attempt to secularize his country was a lot clumsier than the Turk’s - he banned the wearing of the chador, insisted on everyone wearing western attire and made men shave their beards and wear the “Reza cap”. In doing so, he antagonized a large section of the population, including the powerful clerics and rapidly lost popular support
Mohammed Reza, the last Shah went much further even faster. Egged on by the British and Americans, anxious to maintain their grip on Iranian oil, the shah pushed ahead rapidly with a programme of social and economic modernization funded by oil revenues. He greatly expanded and developed Iran’s infrastructure and much of what was achieved in the period leading up to his downfall and eventual exile in 1979 is still evident today. The residents of Iran’s big cities, Tehran in particular benefited enormously from these developments, but the westernization of Iran was all too much for the devoutly religious and conservative rural areas and the powerful clergy. The result was 1979’s Islamic Revolution the effects of which still dominate all aspects of Iranian life today.
Nevertheless Iran’s infrastructure and city life are substantially more Western European than Middle Eastern. There are of course stark differences. Women cannot be seen in public without head covering with little skin other than face and hands being exposed. The full black chador (but very rarely a full hijab) is widely worn particularly outside Tehran, but in the capital itself even women’s dress is noticeably less conservative. We see little in the way of crude anti-western propaganda and few pro-revolutionary posters and what of each there are, are just “there” and my guess is most people just take them for granted and ignore them. There are plenty of pictures of both Khomeini and his successor as Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. More prominent though in every city, town and village we pass through are posters bearing images of local “martyrs” of the war with Iraq, almost all without exception, young men.
What perhaps for me was the most surprising difference between the Iranian cities we visited and Western European cities is how clean and well-kept they are. And remember, Iran has a population of more than 80 million and Tehran alone has a population of around 10 million. But despite the crowds and horrendous and chaotic traffic, the streets are clean and quite literally, litter-free. Every city, but Tehran in particular, has extensive and very well maintained green spaces and parks. Central medians, spaces under freeway underpasses, roundabouts etc are covered in well tended grass and flower beds. Imaginative street art is prominent (mostly “official” and not obviously of any religious significance) and graffiti almost non-existent.
As in so many countries though not least, countries in the west, there is a stark difference between the cities - Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz for instance - and the mallee towns and rural areas that we visited that are clearly a lot more conservative.
The Future
Other than our excellent guide Mohammed, we didn’t have the opportunity of extensive interact with ordinary Iranians. We did get to know Mohammed pretty well - he was with us every day for two weeks. Mid-30’s and unmarried, a passionate Tehrani, he did open up to us quite openly about present day Iranian life and culture and his concerns for the future particularly with the imminent intensification of US-imposed economic sanctions. I don’t think it appropriate to share what he expressed to us in this blog. Suffice it to say that while being nervous about the near term he did express hope and optimism about Iran’s longer term future given its relatively young and well-educated population and the continuing pressure for relaxation of some of the more oppressive religious-based rules and customs.
But there is so much political and religious based animosity between Iran and many of its neighbours and between Iran and the west, mainly the US, it’s hard to imagine any dramatic changes anytime soon. Iran’s currency will continue to fluctuate wildly (over the past six months alone, the unofficial rate as varied between 30,000 and 200,000 rials to the dollar) making life very uncertain for all Iranians, not least the burgeoning middle class. Perhaps that will help pressure the Iranian regime to soften its stance and enable some way forward with both its neighbours and the the US
We can only hope....