News from Iran Blog
Posts on Iran, from Iran. By our team - featuring Jon Snow, Lindsey Hilsum, Julian Rush and Borna Alikhani.

'Ba doorood-eh faravaan'

On the way back from Isfahan today once again we passed the Natanz enrichment facility. All the anti aircraft installations were manned, the site looked look busy with a huge construction crane - it certainly didn't look like it was about stop working any time soon.

An eventfully journey in which a huge cog fell out of the engine of one our vans, which still seemed to be able to go on speedily for another few miles before conking out altogether and in which our Iran outside broadcasting unit crashed, with the driver arrested.

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It's like the dream where you're naked in high heels

Still high from last night's coup, we pull into Isfahan's main square. We felt like we owned it.

As I walked around the Blue Mosque with the normally frantic programme editor, I had the unavoidable emotional moment. I was very proud that he was seeing my country like this. I was proud of the achievements of my romping ancestors the Safavids.

The point of News from Iran Week was to give people an understanding of Iran beyond the rhetoric. As we wondered through the maze of domes, I realized that Ben of Barnes (the programme editor) had got it.

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Who runs Iran?

So who’s in charge round here? I wish it were so simple. Iran has the most arcane and complex system of government I have ever tried to decipher.

It works on any number of levels. Some bodies are elected and some are not. Some are conservative and some reformist. Those who are political enemies may be family friends or have business interests in common. Any foreigner who thinks they understand the power structure is seriously deluded.

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The fortune teller and the wise man with an impressive belly

I saw a fortune teller a few months ago who read my coffee.

She was supposedly one of the best in the business. The first thing she told me was that there was a sport which I passionately loved. Nonsense I thought and immediately stopped listening to her.

She lost all credibility.

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Eye of the storm

Well the clock is ticking here in Tehran. Looks like all our efforts to stave off a crisis over Iran's nuclear programme have failed.

Tomorrow the members of the IAEA meet in Vienna to almost certainly rubber stamp a referral of Iran to the UN security council, and dire warnings for Iran are issuing out from the United States.

America's ambassador to the UN has just said that they're prepared to 'use all the tools at our disposal' to stop Iran's nuclear activities. Strong words out of Washington, as they warn Iran she faces tangible and painful consequences. They speak of Iran's nuclear threat, and talk of beefing up America's 'defensive measures…'

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'I’ve come here to defend Iran to my last drop of blood'

To Ayatollah Khomeini’s shrine for a rally ahead of the IAEA meeting in Vienna tomorrow.

The shrine, just south of Tehran, is an enormous complex and building site. Blue domes and golden minarets emerge from scaffolding and half constructed dormitories for pilgrims.

The ceremony begins with a revolutionary song and uniformed guards laying a wreath at Khomeini’s tomb. (10 minutes later the wreath has been whisked away.) A few thousand people have turned up, bussed in from different parts of Tehran.

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Axis of evil? Doesn't feel like it from here

All 13 of us are now on site in Tehran, some have been out to Qom to scout it out for a transmission from there next week.

We shall be going ourselves tomorrow, it’s where the tangle of religious leaders debate and teach and think about Islam, Iran and quite a bit more.

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A small dose of detention

Jon Snow This afternoon we experienced the other side of the coin, a small dose of detention by the authorities at what once was the US embassy and now is the forlorn and vacant 'nest of spies'.

As so often, the guys doing the detaining were more frightened than we were, or should I say paranoid, while they sought a higher authority to check that our authority or permission was adequate.

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Rush hour, Tehran style

Jon Snow: I'm sitting in a bumper to bumper traffic jam in one of Tehran's ring roads.

The next hour of my life will be devoted to negotiating this brake-lit paralysis. In the gathering dusk beyond the brake lights, the road is illuminated by a forest of advertising hoardings. Their fluorescent-lit message used to be one of God when I was last here, today it is of Mammon.

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The wonderful Doctor Keesheek

Ever since I’ve been in Iran I’ve had a really nasty cough. It started a week before we came out here and once the worst was over turned into one of those lingering, debilitating, dry hacking coughs that keep you awake at night and leave you constantly tired.

The appalling air pollution in Tehran hasn’t helped.

This morning it got really bad. Waiting in a hot airless room to interview the Iranian MP who chairs the Majlis (Parliament) Energy Committee, I’m faint and sweaty.

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