Update on Life in Iran
Nothing is clear here. We are waiting for UN resolution 1737 to take effect. The nuclear sites are finally going on the tourist list. Prices are going up. Gas rationing is being discussed and Iran’s own legislators warn that they are running out of money.
The internet doesn’t work well. I know that it is partially due to the regime and its squeeze on available bandwidth. I wonder, however, if it’s not also due to some kind of restrictions in place in the west? Are they also squeezing us out of some routers or forbidding us from using their sites? Is i-Tunes keeping me out of its music store or is the regime?
Iranians complain about money, but you would not believe the number of shiny new Mercedes that are being driven around Tehran right now. Three and a half years ago, it was rare to see anything other than a Paykan or Pride or Samand: the three cars made in Iran. Now you see Toyotas and Mercedes and some weird car called the Kommando: all of which are much more expensive here than in Europe or Dubai. The taxes on importing cars are super-high.
There is a weird relationship with money here: conspicuous spending among some, inconspicuous hoarding among others. (Well, not hoarding the bills or coins, but hoarding gold and real estate.) Others really have no money and struggle to feed their families. Rents are soaring. Property is ever more expensive. Traffic is getting worse. On top of that, the snow on the mountains is already melting.
Ashura was uneventful here: no self-flagellation with knives (which gives me a great blocked search here self-flagellation Ashura.)
All in all. Greetings from me to you. I hope to be more communicative in the coming weeks!
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Great update as usual.
Me too!
By the way,
Why is this so? When I visited Tehran very briefly, my friend Minoo said that if you see a fancy car it means the owner has a lot of money to spare, because only the very rich can afford to import such cars. But I’m not sure why? Does it have to do with encouraging others to buy cars that are made or “approved” by Iran?
Great!
Esra’a
That’s because the Iranian car companies can not compete with foreign companies, both in terms of price and quality.
I appreciate any news out of that state of mind
Thanks Esther for the news, was a brilliant well briefed follow up on the issues.
and about Ashoura in Iran, I think there have rarely been any self flagellation in Iran, but surely Iraq has seen a full scale Ashoura this year(Such commemorations were banned under Saddam Hussein’s rule). I have seen pictures of kids under 12 years old, slicing their sculps with blades, practicing the ritual of Tetbir as the caption described!!!which I have no idea wether is of any meaning to an Iranian Shie.
Yeah the iTunes thing is odd – my guess is that it is blocked.
I’ve noted that YouTube is selectively blocked on one of the ISPs I use – typing in words like “celebrity” triggers the MASSIVE exclamation mark in a yellow triangle.
And the Mercs, BMWs, Prados etc are truly helping the Iranian desire to be conspicuously one step ahead… but they do pay a huge tariffs for the pleasure- one only hopes that money circulates well.
Lastly, the war drums are getting louder and it seems the media are doing well in promoting it:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5441&edition=2
The love of my life lives in tehran
the importing tax for a car is 90% of its original price plus about 3000 USD for its plate.
typically a 2008 BMW 630i costs about 190,000 USD and a 2008 C class mercedes starts from 120,000 USD. a S class mercedes (which plenty of them are available here) costs about a Ferrari or Lamburghini in Europe or US. all of these cars are sold in cash (no leasing).
the fuel price is a little more than half a dollar for these cars per liter. the total number of cars imported in 2008 is about 200,000 showing a 200% growth comparing to 2007.