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Characteristic features of Iran
Characteristic features of Iran
There are customs and things that are specific to a particular country. This doesn’t mean that the things I will mention exist only in Iran, although I believe that other travellers will agree that my observations listed below are accurate. My private views will also come to light along the way.
My observations in Iran
⇒ People have a very good attitude towards tourists. I think that it is partly a cultural issue, although I suspect that there are other reasons as well. The media is constantly scaring people that Iran is the ‘Axis of Evil’, that it is dangerous and that either there is a war or a war is coming. After watching the American or British media, you can come to the conclusion that in Iran, in every carpet shop they produce long-range missiles, and in every kebab shop they enrich uranium. This is madness that certainly makes Iranians uncomfortable with such a portrayal of their country. For this reason, I am under the impression that Iranians are nice and hospitable when they see a tourist from Europe, as if they wanted to show that the hate propaganda against Iran is indeed a lie.
Jameh mosque. Yazd old town.
Besides, Iranians were surprised that I went to the ‘Axis of Evil’ at all. After all, the global regime does everything to make this country look as disgusting as possible. That’s why being a guest in a rarely visited country has its advantages. On the other hand, people from outside Europe are definitely not welcome in Europe, because the whole world is trying to get to Europe legally and illegally. Iranians want someone to visit them and talk to them, and they want to have cross-cultural experiences, while Europeans are tired of millions of foreign visitors.
The good attitude of Iranians towards tourists does not mean that Iranians have good attitude towards each other. The people of Iran have problems among themselves. These are not only political differences but also social and family problems resulting from their cultural mentality. Everyone knows about the Iran-Israel war, but social tensions may sooner lead to an Iran-Iran war.
!! I noticed that I had arguments and nervous situations where it was most religious, that is, in the nests of Islam. There I didn’t feel like a tourist but like an infidel and whilst there I sometimes felt hostility and suspicion. I felt unwanted and chased out of Qom, just as I had previously from Medina in Saudi Arabia. Although I had good relations with Persians, I had several arguments with women in mosques dressed in black sheets because they were in my photos. Muslims wanted to have religious and ideological conversations with me in mosques, and everyone liked me, but only when I had the same opinion as them. Several times I felt hostility from extremely religious women in mosques when I told them that Islam was a business, because I had to buy an entrance ticket. Islam does not allow other opinions; it is like a horse with blinkers on.
⇒ Scrambled eggs in Iran are always served with tomato sauce, which can get boring after a while. In such cases, you have to give precise instructions that you do not want the sauce. Moreover, Iranians never fry onions with scrambled eggs, but serve them raw on the side. They also call scrambled eggs ‘omelette‘, although ‘omelette’ in the European version is not scrambled eggs. If you want scrambled eggs, say you want ‘mixed omelette’ using a stirring gesture.
⇒ Tea with sugar? Yes, but different than ours. In Iran they put a sugar cube between your teeth and pour the tea into their mouths through a sugar cube. I asked many times for a teaspoon, which was difficult because Iranians don’t speak English, and they don’t need teaspoons anymore.
⇒ Iran is officially the Islamic Republic, but there are more and less conservative families.
Persian sweets seller in Qom, Iran.
Looking at some Muslim countries, I see that Islam has done these people great harm. In many countries, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and the Mahreb countries there are millions of people ready to kill in the name of Islam. Looking at the level of literacy in many Muslim countries, I came to the conclusion that where education is very bad, Islam is the most aggressive, and Islamic ignorance is most successful. Most of these Muslims have never read the Koran because they cannot read.
In Iran I saw religious madness in many places of worship. People prayed, they did squats in mosques, kissed mosque doors and frames, and chapels illuminated in green. This is especially visible in Qom and Mashhad, but also in many other places. On the other hand I spoke to many young people who smoked cigarettes in front of mosques and openly said “fuck Islam” and “fuck Khomeini”. Many Iranians don’t want Islam. They want freedom from Islam, they want to dance and they want to drink beer.
But are these people to be trusted? Well, I have experienced many times how young people in Muslim countries complain about Islam, even in countries like Pakistan, and then the same people go to Europe and fight ‘for the cause of Allah’. I approach with a distance both those who are openly blinded by Islam and those who have temporarily succumbed to the fashion of rebellion against Islam. People are full of contradictions and that’s why I ask myself: would those Persians who don’t like Islam in Iran fight for the ’cause of Allah’ in Europe?
For me mosques in Iran were very attractive. I believe that many of the historical mosques in Persia are worthy of attention and admiration for their architecture and art. For this reason I recommend ancient Persian mosques to travellers as worthwhile places of sightseeing. Blue mosaics, traditional arches and columns, windows made of hundreds of multi-coloured pieces of glass, squares with fountains and orange trees – all create a very attractive entirety. Whilst there tourists can also meet nice and very interesting people, what I have experienced many times myself.
Tabatabaee Historical House, with traditional architecture, garden and water reservoir. Kashan.
⇒ Some women in Iran cover themselves with black sheets, while others wear small scarves halfway down their heads and roll up their sleeves to their elbows. In this way they look at the religious police and test how far they can push their freedom. I call girls with scarves halfway down their heads “gummi bears,” and unfortunately many of them have had huge problems because of this. Like every nation Iranians are divided in their views. Some young people even criticize the Iranian flag because it refers to Islam.
It would seem that in the Islamic Republic women fit the stereotype of servants and subjects. Nothing could be more deceptive. Women argue with their husbands and it is better not to mess with them because they can quickly get a divorce and take the children. Apart from that Iranian women are more liberated than I thought. One blinked her eye at me while riding a moped, another one had a conversation with me about sex on the street and she asked me to bring her a vibrator, and another one grabbed me by a “delicate” part of my body in a dark alleyway. I also took a couple of them to a cafe, which made everyone stare at us.
With the development of social media girls like to record videos with tourists. When I was visiting a merchant’s house in Kashan, the girls first squealed at the sight of me and then prepared a trap for me. One jumped on my back and the other girls filmed us, laughing whilst doing this. Finally I picked one up and threatened to throw her into the pool, but that was a mistake because they had even more fun.
Another woman said that she hadn’t been with a man for two years and that’s why she invited me to her home, but nothing came out of it. In Iran I felt like someone that women wanted to confide to and they could sometimes stroke like their pet dog. I guess they can’t afford to have such jokes and confessions with Persian men, that’s why with a European man ‘Persian cats’ feel more liberated. I changed my mind – Iran is partly dangerous.
The flower of Persian beauty.
Women wrapped in black sheets often work for the police and in mosques. Well, I think they need a psychiatrist. Other women avoid mosques and want to dress in a more relaxed way. However, I advise white men to be careful and not to fall for the ‘honey trap’.
I like Iranian women. When they do speak English they are helpful, caring, warm, interesting, and many are also pretty and have a sense of humour.
⇒ There is no problem with transport in Iran because every car is a potential taxi. Some cars are paid and others are free, but the most important thing is that there is never a problem with transport. I advise to help a good Persian man with buying petrol.
⇒ The most popular car in Iran is the French Peugeot 405, which due to its age does not always have a Peugeot engine. Despite this the bodywork still makes an impression on the ladies. Recently, due to the age of the iconic Peugeot 405 in Iran, it is being replaced by the Iranian made Saipa. Official taxis are always painted yellow. Sometimes I wonder what Iranians put into the Peugeot 405 that they still drive, even though they are older than dinosaurs.
Another iconic car in Iran is the blue Mazda. They are cars are for transporting goods, donkeys and also for picking up tourists from the desert. The blue Mazda is also old but popular in Iran.
Peugeot 405 is not the only means of transport. Donkey is better. View of the highest peak in Iran: Damavand.
⇒ The language barrier is a huge problem in Iran. Iranians like talking to tourists even if they only speak Persian. This issue is only seemingly funny, but in reality it is very tiring. Sometimes I tried to explain something to them because it seemed to me they understood, but they didn’t understand anything. Other times I was dealing with a group of Persians, each of whom understood a little, meaning that all of them understood nothing. In Kerman and Kashan everyone wanted to say ‘hello’ to me and ask where I was from, even though they very rarely understood my answers.
After a while, for the sake of my health, I had to ignore the Persians, and then I learned a few words in Farsi to somehow get through the country. Imagine that 30 people a day want to talk to me and each of them has a lot of questions, even though no one speaks English. I was tired.
⇒ Persian-Arab relations are an alternately funny and tragic chapter of my travels. I got the impression that Iranians treat Arabs as sub-humans, which they like to express in their many comments about them. Well, I’ve been to France, Holland and Scandinavia, so I understand them perfectly. Calling a Persian an Arab is a huge insult.
On the other hand, when I travelled in Arab countries it was clear to me that Arabs hate Iran. In Saudi Arabia they hate Iran and they even hate Shiite Islam, calling it: ‘their religion’. When I told Arabs in Kuwait that I was going to a Persian restaurant, they answered me with gritted teeth: ‘So you like Iranian food?’ When an Arab man was at my house and I showed him my Iranian souvenir on the wall, he left in anger and slammed the door. When I met an Arab in Iran, he told me how much he loathed Iran and that I was wasting my time coming to such a horrible country.
When a Shiite cleric was showing me around the mosque in Qom, he said, ‘Look, these are Wahhabis from Saudi Arabia. They cut throats at home and now they’ve come to us for a vacation.’ The first prophet in Shiite Islam is Ali, Muhammad’s cousin. Iranians are obligated to like him, but they talk with distaste when they say that he was from Saudi Arabia. The neighbourly relationship between Persians and Arabs is not a love story.
The walls of the famous Arg-e Karim Khan, with a nice orange garden inside.
⇒ I got the impression that hatred of America is a part of popular culture, while Israel disgusts everyone so much and is associated with such disgusting vermin that Iranians don’t even like to talk about it. But, everyone likes Hitler because of his attitude towards Jews.
I came to the conclusion that the ‘Great Satan’ doesn’t cause such hatred and certainly doesn’t disgust as much as the ‘Small Satan’. Israel is therefore evil straight from hell, while America is the devil’s advocate. I understand the Persians on this issue and I like Iran very much.
⇒ The absolute hit in the liberated version of Persian Islam is the “temporary marriage“. The couple gets married for a set period of time, does well for themselves and says goodbye after the set period of time. Temporary marriage can be concluded for an indefinite period of time, i.e. from 1 hour to 100 years. According to the rules of Shiite Islam, both the woman and the man must be Muslim, they cannot be involved in adultery in a previous relationship; and best of all: the wedding cannot be concluded for the man’s sexual pleasure.
I can also speak on this topic. An Iranian woman wanted to marry me a long time ago and she said: ‘just tell the mullah that you are a Muslim? And what if he doesn’t believe? He will believe because he works for money.’
So you don’t have to be a Muslim. You just have to agree with the mullah, who probably doesn’t know English anyway. The man should keep quiet and let his Persian wife talk. Then the man should pay the mullah and leave. I wouldn’t focus so much on the man’s sexual pleasure in this case neither. Sometimes a woman has greater needs than a man, but who’s going to tell them that when a man has been chosen for the role of a sexual predator and a woman for the role of a victim.
On the grounds of the historic Agha Bozorg mosque in Kashan. It is built on two floors, and downstairs there is a garden with a water reservoir and orange trees.
⇒ Muslim ignorance from all over Arabistan, Pakistan and other extreme countries burns churches and persecutes Christians. In Iran however Christians are doing well and several churches with their beautiful frescoes are part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage. An example of this are the churches in Esfahan, which have historic frescoes inside, even though from the outside they look like mosques anyway.
It’s also worth mentioning the Jewish ignorance and their hatred of Christians. In occupied Palestine Jewish bullies and vandals destroy churches and Christian cemeteries and they attack priests. There were even talks on this matter in Israel between church leaders and Jews, but the Zionist media of course silenced the acts of vandalism and hooliganism done by the Jews. Meanwhile in Iran there is an Armenian district in Esfahan, and in Tehran there is a Polish cemetery maintained by Persians.
⇒ Iranian censorship is so bad that many websites don’t work and social media is banned. Despite this Iranians get around the censorship because everyone has a VPN. As a result millions of Iranians use social media, and I got the impression that everyone with a phone had Instagram, Telegram and X. Media censorship for smart Iranians is therefore a sham.
On the other hand censor Ali Khamenei himself uses X legally, despite officially banning it for Iranians. Censorship in Iran looks like a Persian comedy to me.
Iranian tailor.
⇒ Every regime advertises its propaganda in the media, and Iran is no exception. In Iranian films and TV series, and in advertisements in the metro and on the streets women are either wrapped in black sheets so that only their faces are visible, or at least their heads are carefully wrapped. In real life I consider this image of Iranian women as an exception to the rule. According to my estimates Iranian women in black sheets on the streets make up about 15%, but in the media and advertisements they make 100%. Shiite clerics try to show a distorted reality.
However, in Iranian films and advertisements I like the attachment to family, conservative marriage according to Iranian culture, and respect for elders. In this the Iranian regime has my support. Even if it is not always the case, it is necessary to fight debauchery and advertise the institution of a healthy family.
I don’t want anyone to think that propaganda is only in Iran, so let’s take a look at the media propaganda in the liberal-infested West. In North America and Europe degeneracy is promoted in the form of homosexual abominations. It is poison! In addition native Europeans who built Europe and North America are being fought by global regimes hostile to Europeans. In every TV program and film we are dealing with black overrepresentation and promotion of white guilt.
Regardless of what we think about Iran, it promotes its culture and its people, while in Europe and North America the regimes fight with their culture, tradition and history. It is obvious that in such circumstances I feel respect for Iran, and disgust for the internal enemies of the white civilization of Europe.
However, I understand why the regime in Iran protects the younger generation from Western influences. Some young Iranians, under the influence of the media absorb American poison to such an extent that they start using fashionable words from American movies. I also saw young Iranian women with nose rings. This is the poison that Europe and North America are already fighting against, and young Iranians are copying us because it is ours.
“Den of Espionage.” Museum in the former US embassy in Tehran. The Iranian regime has the honour and strong character to stand up to the US.
I have a suggestion for Iranians who like European culture. Let them learn to play the piano like Chopin or Mozart and let them dress classy like in American films of the 40s and 50s. Talking fashionable nonsense, having nose rings and the style of a drug addict are not European culture but the pathology of Europe.
⇒ The grass is always greener somewhere else. Iranians believe that the worst regime is in Iran, and in Europe there is ‘freedom and democracy’. They believe that we have freedom because we are not Islamic republics; even though with the current mass immigration our colonial Islam will be much worse than theirs.
It is true that Europe and the US have better money, an open world without visas, and we also have better technology. Iranians however do not see our problems, such as: poverty, hundreds of thousands of homeless people, economic crises, and a very serious cultural and social crisis. I don’t see Iran only through the Imam Square in Esfahan, and Iranians shouldn’t see Europe only through the value of our money.
I know there are political prisoners in Iran and those who have fled Iran are afraid to go back there. Yes, that is true, but in such ‘democratic paradises’ famous for fighting for human rights as England or Sweden there are also political prisoners. In Great Britain native Britons are imprisoned for many years for criticizing their governments on immigration issues, and sometimes just for telling the truth about crimes committed by invaders from Africa and the Middle East. At this point it makes no difference to me whether the regime is called Islamic or democratic. Iranians however do not get it. Their opinion about the Europeans is in a nutshell: ‘it is great in your countries because you have more money’.
Fruit stall in Iran.
⇒ Persian food is very tasty but Iranians are shooting themselves in the foot by popularizing American-style hamburgers. ‘Fast food’ is very popular in Iran, even though Persian food is simply better and healthier. Kebabs are very popular and I see that Persians also make vegetable kebabs. The only thing missing was duck kebabs. Persians haven’t figured that out yet but maybe after reading my article that will change.
⇒ Although the main religion in the Islamic Republic of Iran is Shiite Islam, it is also worth getting to know the original religion and philosophy of ancient Persia, which is Zoroastrianism. I recommend the Temple of Fire and the Tower of Silence in the city of Yazd and the chapel in the Chak Chak mountains.
⇒ Especially in Tehran, I saw many women and a few men with nose strips. Iran is a popular country for plastic surgery and specializes in noses. When these surgeries are performed in Europe, women hide them, while in Iran they show them to everyone as if they were proud that they could afford the surgeries. I have the impression that in Iran, plastic surgery of the nose is a symbol of social status.
I think Iran can successfully compete with Turkey as a medical tourism destination.
In all the countries I’ve been to and in Europe and the US, Arabs, blacks, Indians, Jews and all dark races bleach their skin and do plastic surgery to resemble Europeans. Then the same dark skinned nations accuse white people of ‘white supremacy’. I have written before that ‘white supremacy’ is maintained by dark races. The paradox here is that they love those they hate.
Alamut Valley and the Castles of Assasins.
⇒ An Iranian tailor is another valuable experience. There are many tailors in Iran with old sewing machines who can transform a potato sack into a stylish creation. In Iran, there is no such thing as a perfectly fitting garment, so when buying a shirt or pants, plan a visit to a tailor right away. I even brought a few items from England for an Iranian tailor to make adjustments. In England, it is sometimes cheaper to buy a new shirt than to go to a tailor, while in Iran it is a fair price.
Summary of Iran
Through the eyes of a traveller Iran is a great adventure but if you look deeper you will see that the country is gripped by a regime, which will come out many times in my travel reports. Iran is a rich experience but dreams do not often come true here and the sense of freedom is like socialism, where poverty is shared equally. In Iran, everyone is ‘equal’ before the law and before Allah, just as in Europe everyone is supposedly ‘equal’.
I also do not want anyone to think that the regime and ‘equality’ are only in Iran, because in my opinion there is not a single free country in the world. I am more interested in the extreme leftist, ultra-liberal regime of the European Union, and the one in Iran is a matter for the Iranians. I have often encountered that travellers like Iran more than the Iranians.
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