Jon Stokes: Iran is suffering under US sanctions and ready for change

Iranians enjoy ice cream in northern Tehran. The price of milk has doubled in the space of a week. Photo / AP

Opinion

COMMENT: I have just returned from a two-week tour of central Iran, travelling from Shiraz to the capital Tehran through some the country's most populous and popular cities. The trip has left my wondering whether a more poorly misrepresented people exists on the planet.

Perception has it they are anti-America/West, war-like, inhospitable, controlling and suppressive of woman, backward. In reality they are incredibly inviting, proud of their culture and history, curious, by and large very educated and aware, despite the efforts of their government.

While there are some pathetically archaic laws for everyone, especially woman, these are driven and enforced by a religious leadership that seems to be despised by the vast majority of the population of 80 million.

In Iran, I became like everyone else an instant millionaire. The economy has been devastated by sanctions, corruption and economic mismanagement. The Iranian rial has devalued by 90 per cent against the US dollar in just 10 years. Due to rampant inflation and fear of further sanctions the Iranian currency has crashed further this year against the US dollar.

One NZ dollar was worth 60,000 rial, double what I was expecting, and what is still claimed as the exchange rate online. To put this in perspective, a bottle of water costs the equivalent of 15 cents and a meal at a café a few dollars. However, anything imported is expensive, especially for a population whose average wage is $660 a month and the minimum wage just $215 a month.

While I was there, milk in Tehran had doubled in a week. This was assumed to be due to sanctions affecting the cost of imported feed for the cows.

Visitors will find they cannot use ATM machines or Visa or Mastercard due to sanctions. Nor will your mobile phone work unless you buy a local sim card. The internet works throughout the vast country as does a relatively sound mobile network, although on sensitive sites it can be intermittent or not work at all. Facebook and other messaging sites did not seem to work without software to circumvent Iranian networks.

The country is however, amazing, with stunning architecture and incredible history stretching back seven millennia. The people are genuinely interested in other countries and cultures and very humbled to have visitors to their country.

I saw no anti Americanism, only from the leadership (especially on the only English speaking channel in most of my hotel rooms, the rest were Persian language series and movies or religious programmes.)

In fact most people I met seemed to envy America and lamented that, thanks to their Government and economic sanctions, they were unable to visit the country.

While Trump's reasons for reactivating sanctions against Iran are wrong, they will probably have a good outcome, because they will likely result in the Iranian people finally throwing off the 40-year tyranny of the theocratic Government they have endured since the revolution of 1979.

The Iranian people are incredibly tolerant and patient, which I think is influenced by the Zoroastrian religion which has Confucianism and Buddhism elements and was the dominant religion before the Arab invaders-imposed Islam on the country in the 7th century AD.

I sense the incredible tolerance of the Iranian people is reaching an end, as is their fear of the Government. Protesters openly criticise the leaders and the corruption of the Government. There were protests in a number of cities while I visited, including the capital Tehran, where criticism of the Government and the collapse of the economy dominated.

The sanctions are crippling and ultimately the failure to live on their meagre incomes will force Iranians to rise up.

Iran is rich in oil, and many other resources, it has a highly educated populace (Iran is the go to place in the middle east for cosmetic surgery especially nose jobs. Seeing woman with bandages across their noses was not an uncommon site and almost seemed like a status symbol.)

Yet the majority of its people are now poor and becoming increasingly backward compared to those they once matched economically and developmentally.

This will only change when the Islamic Republic is toppled. Then much needed money for Iranians will stop being funnelled to fund terrorism, revolution and Islamic groups in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen etc and to prop up dictators like Bashar al-Assad in Syria (criticism of this funding was reflected in many placards and chants from those protesting across Iran during my visit).

It will also mean that restrictions on what people can wear, watch and read will end, as will archaic rules that woman and men, publicly at least, cannot swim in a pool together or use the same gym, that women must cover their head when in public and many other out-dated, religiously inspired dogma.

• Jon Stokes is a communications advisor and a former Herald reporter.