4 posts tagged “iran”
After a fantastic three weeks traveling around Iran, it was finally time to turn towards home. As an American, the only way to obtain an Iranian visa had been to book a guided tour, and while the guide had been sage-like in his knowledge and helpfulness, I was looking forward to a little time on my own. Since the visa rules require a guide only inside the country, but not on the way in or out, I’d booked the longest outbound trip I could find, the Tehran-Istanbul train.
Sections below excerpted from other writings:
Everything started out fine. Professor and his taxi-driving brother-in-law met me at the hotel for our short drive to Tehran’s train station. Standing inside the station, I was sad to say goodbye - Professor had become a friend during our intense three weeks together and I was going to miss him. After making sure my seat assignment and baggage were in order, and still somewhat surprised I was leaving by train instead of plane, he held out his hand and we said goodbye. Then, quickly and without another word, he disappeared out the stations doors and I was suddenly alone.
The train was barely half full, with only one other person in my 4-bunk compartment. My roommate for the four-day journey was to be a young Afghani who spoke no Persian and whose only English was ‘ok’. Since that was more Afghani than I speak, we went with his English and a lot of miming. He was going to Istanbul to work and seemed spellbound by my maps of Iran and Turkey. Other than that he turned out to be a very quiet guy - perfect for a long train ride.
For the first few hours everything was easy and relaxing. Then the evening turned into night, and with it came the heat. It was a bitterly cold January night outside, as the train drove through the mountains of northwestern Iran, but the conductor decided to set the heating on thermonuclear. Perhaps in honor of their nuke program.
By 1:00 a.m. I was laying in a pool of my own sweat, barely able to breathe it was so hot. Simply to cool off, I got up to go to the freezing cold, unheated bathroom. Of course, the toilet was a squatter (i.e. a hole in the floor), and on a rapidly moving train everyone’s aim was not what it should have been. Still, I stood there in the stench, soaked in my own sweat and standing in a film of water, piss and shit, for 10 minutes until I started to cool down. Then, when the smell finally started to overcome the pleasant coolness, I fled back into the car.
On the way back to my compartment, I looked around for an empty room. Seeing one, I quickly ducked inside and tested the window, happily finding a small slit at the top that actually opened. So, at 1:30 in the morning, I packed everything up and snuck into the new compartment. The first thing I did was pile clothing over the accursed heater, then opened the window and tried to sleep.
The night soon became an endless series of half-hour stretches of sleep—first woken by the cold from the window, then by the heat after the window was closed. Alternately freezing and sweating, I tossed and turned my way through the early morning.
My struggle lasted until 6:00 a.m., when we arrived at the first immigration stop. Worried about possibly missing a document, and getting kicked out of my ‘private’ compartment, I prepared a welcome for the inspector. When he came to the door I offered him some of the fancy candy I’d bought back in Yazd. He was surprised, and seemingly touched. A quick glance at the room, then my passport (Oh, American?!? Welcome!) and he was gone. Customs problem one, solved.
The next stop wasn’t for a couple of hours so I shut the door and got ready to try sleeping again, only NOW IT WAS MUSIC TIME!! The conductor, may his black heart and evil spirit rest long in hell, decided to crank up some utterly god-awful music at the LOUDEST POSSIBLE VOLUME; fortunately, with the treble on high and the speakers crackling from the current! Yes! Within minutes I was hiding back in the toilet, praying for a crash.
The music in the hallways was so loud it penetrated every inch of the accursed train - meaning nowhere to escape. I went back to my compartment, jammed earplugs into my ears, hid my head under clothes and pillows, but still couldn’t escape the blood-curdling screams of the treble. Hours later, my mind dull from the overwhelming heat and the hours spent staring longingly at the passing mountain cliffs, dreaming of jumping from one, the train finally pulled into the next stop - Iranian Immigration.
The rest of the train trip got both much better, and far worse, but that’s enough blogging for today …
Oil for Vacation Time!
Calling this an agreement to denuclearize North Korea, or block any of Pyongyang’s future nuclear options, doesn’t cut it. This agreement is simply the exchange of fuel oil for the temporary freezing, not closure, of the North’s aged nuclear facility at Yongbyon. The most important goals – finding and permanently closing all of the North’s facilities, plus getting rid of any/all existing nuclear fuel and weapons … are left to some dreamy future fantasyland.
The North could freeze Yongbyon for a few months of relaxation and world happiness, collect its fuel oil donations, then restart Yongbyon later in the year and barely miss a beat in its nuke program. Plus, they could repeat the same scenario ad infinitum, irritating the U.S., China, and everyone else along the way, but still skillfully making similar agreements whenever Chinese/international heat gets too high.
The North is basically getting aid for nothing – though many in the U.S. right-wing (i.e. former UN ambassador John Bolton) have come out against the agreement, can you imagine the incredible decibel level had it been Carter or Clinton that signed this thing?
Looking for a secure, long-term job? Become a State Department negotiator!
With so many of the most important issues left up to future negotiations, a better name for this deal would be something like 6-Nations Diplomat Employment Act. Since so much was glossed over in the current deal, it’s going to take years of negotiations, plus tons more fuel and other aid, before anything even close to denuclearization of the North, the ‘Libyan endgame’ everyone is hoping for, actually occurs. So send in your applications now, and you too could spend years in Beijing hotel rooms bargaining with the North!
Good News for Traveling U.S. Citizens
The North was all set to allow in American tourists last August, but backed out at the last minute when its July missile test brought a fresh round of international opprobrium. With this current agreement, especially its call for future U.S. diplomatic recognition of the North (something that Pyongyang has long desired, and originally promised in the 1994 nuclear agreement), the chances are very good that Americans will be allowed into North Korea later this year – the first time since October 2005 (not coincidentally, right after a previous ‘breakthrough’ in the 6-party talks).
Worried that the deal may blow up before the North’s summer travel season? Legitimate, but there’s so much fluff and diplomatic yapping built into this process that, even in the worst case, the summer will hopefully have come and gone before things get too far into the dumper. All you’ve got to do is place your bets on bureaucratic inefficiency!
Japan and Iran
Interestingly, Japan did not agree to provide any of the aid mentioned in the agreement. It stuck to its guns, saying it will only provide aid to the North once a full accounting is made of Japanese citizens abducted to the North in the 1970s and 80s. The aid will instead be provided only by the U.S., South Korea, China, and Russia.
Since any fuel oil provided by the bill will need congressional approval, may I humbly suggest that the honorary name for this bill be Iranian Nuclear Weapons Support Act? Because, god/Allah knows, after witnessing the North test a nuke, then get an agreement for aid within four months, the Iranians would be nuts not to speed up their nuclear development!
I just found out that the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected my application to spend the summer studying Farsi in Tehran. I've emailed for clarification, but so far (two days), I've yet to get an additional response. All I've heard, this from the University of Tehran's International Students Office, is:
| "Dear Scott Fisher, We are sorry to inform you that your application has not been approved by the admission office of the ministry of Foreign Affairs." |
Banned due to my nationality? Or did they Google me and find something they didn't like ... ?
For those wondering why anyone would want to send their summer in Iran learning Farsi/Persian, I actually found the place both interesting and surprisingly friendly when I visited last year. Plus, for someone interested in researching U.S. relations with 'rogue nations', Farsi would seem a useful language to pick up.
Scott
P.S. On a separate and highly unrelated note, I have a couple of good friends who went to the University of Texas. Spending the past couple of months working on this University of Tehran application has made me laugh every time I've heard "UT" referred to as a university in Tehran instead of Texas. Maybe I can get them to send me a t-shirt ...
I've added a few more photos from the trip to Iran, and hope to add more over the next couple of days. Enjoy, and let me know if you see anything you like or have any questions.
