becoming more relaxed,” a young
female architect tells me.
We plunge head-long into the
Grand Bazaar—with miles upon miles
of lanes, getting lost is inevitable—
and barter for saffron and carpets,
before visiting the former US
Embassy, the scene of an infamous
hostage crisis. In November 1979,
months after the monarchy was
overthrown and an Islamic republic
declared, radical students stormed
the building and held 52 diplomats
hostage for 444 days.
Now open as a museum, the rose-
filled gardens are dotted with anti-
American banners and the remnants
of a US helicopter that crashed on
a mission to rescue the hostages.
Inside, “the den of spies” feels
gloriously kitsch, with antiquated
computers and waxwork dummies
displayed in a room seemingly lined
with aluminium foil, where top-
secret meetings were once held.THE ANIMOSITY OF THE MUSEUM'S
one-sided exhibits is at odds with the
wholehearted welcome for foreigners
on the streets of Iran. Despite the
pain of international sanctions that
have sent their economy into freefall,
the Iranians I meet are unfailingly
warm, refreshingly open and keen toTALES OF THE UNEXPECTED
84 • AUGUST 2019
"IRAN IS
SLOWLY
CHANGING
AND
BECOMING
MORE
RELAXED"Clockwise from top
left: Tehran's Grand
Bazaar, a mural on
the former US
embassy, a Bazaar
shopkeeper