Six days ago, I travelled to Tehran, where I had been invited – before the current protests began – to give some talks on Afghanistan, where I live and am a university lecturer. Upon arriving at the airport, I was glad to see that phone networks were working despite the internet being shut down. The money changers were refusing most currencies because of the uncertainty of the rates. I exchanged a few dollars and took the cab to my hotel in the centre of the city.
The city was calm as we drove through it. The cab driver was an ardent supporter of the state and told me how “Zionist-inspired” youngsters had set fire to a mosque in Iran. He pointed out to me the large mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s founding supreme leader, at the entrance of Tehran.
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