IRAN The Western Media Won’t Show

IRAN The Western Media Won’t Show

Iran, one of the most negatively 
portrayed country in the media.  They feel the military option 
really is the only way to stop Iran. Iran’s nuclear program.
In Iran, freedom comes   at a deadly cost. A woman’s choice 
to unveil can now lead to flogging, prison, and even execution. an Israel Iran 
conflict that does continue to unfold. Iran Iran Iran
I decided to see what is   really happening inside Iran to find out what is 
hidden beyond what the media tells. [Music] Hello. I’m now looking at the airplane that they 
preparing for the flight that I’m going to   board now. And this destination is going to be so 
much different from anywhere I’ve ever been to. There is a weekly direct 
flight from Moscow to Tean. So,   I will be in Iran just in 3 hours and a half. [Music] And I’m here in one of the most closed and 
mysterious ious countries in the world. Knowing that I’m one of the few people who’ve got a chance 
to explore this region makes me feel like the main character of an adventurous movie. Let the movie 
begin. The is the capital city of Iran. The has a long history with evidence of settlement dating 
back over 6,000 years. To feel the ancient energy, I decided to walk through the Grand Bazaar, 
which is considered to be over a,000 years old. Hey, nowadays with a population of 14 million 
people, Therron is Iran’s largest city and one of the most populous cities in the world. 
I will remember it as a very modern, clean, and lively city. I didn’t spend much time here 
because I couldn’t wait to see what everyone   comes to Iran for, the ancient Persian culture 
and history. So, I headed to the city Shiras. I will explore every city in Iran with 
its locals. And in Shiraas, I met Omid, whom I started to bombard with questions right 
away. I have just arrived in the country. Yes. And I don’t really understand the rules about 
hijab and covering hair. How obligatory is it? And uh do I need to do it everywhere all the time?
Yeah, in public areas actually it’s a must rule of the country based on the Sharia of Islam. Because 
in Islam ladies they have to cover their bodies. It’s the only parts they are allowed to show. It’s 
based on the religion on her faces and the hands and the arms and part of the feet.
What will happen if I don’t? Normally there are uh some kind of police. 
We call them morality police. The morality police it sounds a little weird but yeah we 
do have morality police in Iran. They come to you and will first tell you please keep 
your job on. If you don’t listen to them, then you might get fined or get arrested. It 
used to be more uh strict than what it is now. What is your hometown Shiraz famous for?
Oh, for many different things. Shiraz is one of the oldest historical cities of Iran. It used to 
be even the capital of Iran few times. Four times actually. Most famous thing from Shir is wine. 
There’s a type of grape actually local grape of uh this region and for the first time more than 
four 4 500 years ago when European were in shiras and they heard about that type of grape they heard 
also local people of shir they make wine out of it they taste it and they found it nice interesting 
so they took it from themselves and they started plantation of that kind of grape in Europe because 
the origin of it was from Shiraas it is called Shira’s grape officially before revolution of 
Iran We had Shira’s wine factory. Of course, it   is forbidden now. Drinking alcohol in general is
now there is no this wine. No homemade wine. Local people, they make it 
at home, but not officially. It’s illegal.  It’s illegal at all to sell 
alcohol in the whole country. Yes.
So, people never  Oh, there is a special permission for the 
non-Muslim minority who lives in Iran. Like for example, Jewish and Christian, 
Armenian especially we have in Iran,   they are allowed to have their own alcoholic 
drinks. Also, the employees of the embassies like the diplomats are allowed to have it.
But overall, nobody drinks alcohol. Good question. A lot of people 
drink it, but illegally.  So, they sell it somehow illegally.
Yes. And you can find it everywhere. And what else is Sheras famous for?
For the pretty girls.  It’s true. Also, you know what I 
noticed that uh so many girls uh make um nose job nose.
Oh, that’s very common   in whole Iran, not only in Shilas. Cosmetic 
surgeries, they became so popular in Iran. But why they want to change 
nose? They like it small.  Who cares about the nose? Many of them 
some sometimes they just do it because of the jealousy to the other friends or family. 
like they said, “Oh, your uh my cousin did it. I have to do that as well.” Their nose has no 
problem. I mean, maybe just a little bigger than I think if you can breathe, 
your nose doesn’t have problem.  This is what uh the mentality is unfortunately. 
And they do it in Iran, right? Of course. Yeah. Even many people from other 
countries, especially from Arab   countries around the Persian Gulf, they come 
to Iran and they do uh surgery. Even men, Arab men they come to and Shira city is very 
famous because of the hospitals and the tech.  Yes, I saw even men with this.
Yes. Even for HR plantation. Yes. It’s so popular.
And one more thing, what is Shiraas famous for?  In general, Shiraas is famous as city of gardens 
and flowers. In the gardens of Shir, we have a lot of cypress tree that they are the tallest 
cypresses of Iran. And in the from the old time   in Persian poetry when they wanted to describe a 
nice tall girl they always compared her with the cypress of shiras girls and cypress trees
cypress tree and poetry like some of the most famous Persian poets 
are from Shiras poets like hafes and sadi are the most famous poets but we have 
hundreds of poets from this Thank you. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] We are at the Shira’s Grand Baza. It used 
to be a place to serve just coppers and nowadays the modern life standard of the 
life is changed. So you can see a lot of uh other products especially clothes. Do you 
have any international brands like Adidas, Nike, stuff like this or it’s completely?
We used to have them but since sanctions there are a lot of embaros against Iran and 
since that time most of the famous brands, international brands in Iran are closed. They’re 
not allowed to be in Iran. But we still do have   some famous brands. We do have Adidas actually 
in Iran through other countries mainly from UAE. Same in Russia now.
Yes. Yeah, I know. I   know about your country also. I’ve been to your 
country two years ago and I saw how they changed the McDonald name to Yes, exactly.
Here, do you also have McDonald’s? We never had it, but we have, for 
example, in Shira, we have SFC,   Shiraas Fried Chicken. It’s exactly like the KFC, 
but it’s not officially uh from United States. So as you can see you see so many different 
type of samova. It came from Russia to Iran more than 200 years ago and we still 
call it samovar like your country.  You also drink tea from it. 
Yes. Yes. It’s a special for how this samovar is used.
It’s actually a mix or   combination of samovar and oven together. 
At the same time you can have water in it and also you can cook on it. So inside 
of the container is divided to two parts   and one part you can add charcoal in it to 
make a fire and heat it up and then you can do cooking and on the other side you can 
add water so you can use it as a samover. [Music] a break to cool down and I will try Iranian 
traditional drink. It doesn’t have a name, but it’s called araman. Alaman. 
And it has uh saffron, rose, mint, mint and barberries.
Barbberries. And this kind of   herbs are actually seeds are kind of herb seeds. 
We call it kir. I really don’t know the name in English, but it’s a local herb seed. Mine is
so good. I tried rose drink uh for the first time when I was in India in 2017. And uh India was 
one of the very first countries that I visited and I went solo and it was like the beginning of 
my life as a traveler. So for me this taste is like the beginning of traveling.
Wow. Remind you of that trip. And I tried this the last time in India.
Wow. Nice. Wow. I feel There some motors. Here we come. And
this is crazy. You are billionaire now. This is how money exchange works in Iran. Just
in the street.  Yeah. No, we do. We
But how did how did you know that this guy would be standing here?
They are always standing there always. There are many other guys. He saw us. So he realized that 
we are going to change money. So he came to us and said, “Okay, how much is your rate
and this is $100.”  Yes.
Wo. Officially the rate is right now is $800,000 real. But what they buy is lower 
than that. But you know because of the unstable economy in Iran, the rate goes up and down all the 
time. So 1 month ago $1 US was 1.1 million real and now is less than 800,000 real. It used to be 
like 500,000 real. So it keep going up and down. How much is this? It’s 7 million real.
Oh, I’m a millionaire now.  Yes.
Wow. You’re a millionaire. In Iran, official money 
is called real. As you can see, there are so many zeros on our money.
This is 1 million.  Yes. 1 million real. Uh-huh. It’s a 
little more than $1,1 million real. We have another system we call it two 
month. 10 real is one two month. What   we normally do in Iran, we put zero uh we 
put our finger on the last zero then it’s 2 month. So 1 million real is 100,000 2 month. 
And local people when they want to say prices they always say in two month they don’t say in 
real which is very confusing for the foreigners. Yes. Just in case if you wanted to buy something 
that the price was unusually cheap for you, be sure they told you in 2 month not in real. 
For example, you are buying something that which costs for example $10, but the price 
that the guy told you is like it sounds like $1 to you. Be sure that price is in Tuma, not in 
real. Another thing that Iranian do like this is 1 million real or 100,000 2 month but you see it’s 
written 100 that’s even more confusing sometimes Iranian don’t even even say 100,000 you want 
to buy something which cost like this much and they will tell you it’s 100 month
crazy so how much is this now 80 million real but before I said 80 
million which is uh was in 2 month okay 8 million tomorrow or 80 million real 
for $100. Right now you don’t know about tomorrow. Tomorrow might be 9 million 
real or less than that. It depends how discussion or negotiation between Iran 
and US goes. If it goes well, it will be uh lower and our money will be a little better. If 
the discussion be really bad, it’s going to go up. See how your life is interesting. Yes.
It’s more interesting when you don’t know   what is going to be tomorrow.
Exactly. Because of the sanctions, the 
cars are usually here from China. There are a lot of cars from China. Yes. 
And also so many Iranian cars. We have a big production of car in Iran. That company 
can own that car. Cipher is one of the famous Iranian company. And the other one is this one 
Eco Iran hydro car organization. These are two Iranian car companies produce car this car. This 
car Dena is a very famous Iranian brand of car. Is it good ones?
Yes. [Music] ghost. [Music] [Applause] Can I stand? [Music] [Applause] [Music] Let me hold [Music] me. [Applause] We are at the lake near Shiraas 
called Maharlu Lake. But because the color of the salt of this lake is 
pink, it is also famous as pink lake. Actually, it was one of my 
dreams to see the pink lake and  it was a surprise. Yeah.
Yes, it’s a very good surprise. So, I wanted to ask you in Russia for 
3 years we live with sanctions. Yes.
In the beginning,   it was such a huge shock, but now everyone is kind 
of used to it. So I wanted to ask what it’s like for you living like this for your whole life. 
I’m smiling and answering that question. This is how we live with it. You know, so you don’t 
notice them. We noticed that in Farsy we say means that my bitter smile is sadder then cry and 
it’s really difficult to live in this situation. Inflation rate in Iran is really really high. 
It used to be like maybe the prices change once a year or twice a year but nowadays the prices 
are changing every day. I can tell you you buy something from the supermarket today and next 
day when you are going to buy the same product   the prices change while the salary of the people 
only change once a year and it’s never this equal with the inflation rate because for example 
inflation rate in reality sometimes is more than 50% but government always announced less than 
that they said oh inflation was 20% so let’s add 20% to the salaries so the people unfortunately 
in this country are getting poorer and poorer. Do you ever have some protests in 
the streets or stuff like this? Yeah, we do have I mean the most famous 
one was 2 years ago when Masa Amini was killed in Iran because of hijab and there was 
a big uh protest on the street. But you know what happened after that? How many people 
were arrested? How many people were killed?   It’s so weird for me to hear that because uh 
today I’ve seen so many girls without headscarf. Yeah, exactly.
And uh the reason why I I’m not always   wearing it, it’s because it’s falling all the time 
and I need to fix fix. So I was so tired. But then at one moment I look at the girls, Iranian girls, 
and not everyone wears it. So I think okay, why I struggle? Well, the rules are still the same,
but they seem so chill,  but they
in streets, in restaurants, especially since 3 years ago, 
the ladies in general in Iran,   they have more courage to do that.
A lot of girls with courage here. Not wearing hijab is their protest 
and a lot of men also support them.  As we talk about men, women, what is about family 
institution here? I heard that here supposed to be uh that parents find husband and make 
arrangement arranged marriage arrangements. It used to be arranged marriage before still 
in among the conservative religious families, traditional families, we have arranged marriage. 
Doesn’t matter if they are in the city,   big city or in a small village. If they 
are conservative, they still does that. New generation, Z generation, they changed a lot 
by the community. Having boyfriend and girlfriend officially is not accepted yet.
Having a boyfriend.  Yeah. Traditionally, it was a taboo. And now 
it’s changed. So most of the boys and girls, they have boyfriend, girlfriend, and uh nobody 
cares. For the boys in Iran, it’s much easier to have a girlfriend and tell their family 
that we have a girlfriend. But for the girls, it’s more difficult. So most of the girls if 
they have a boyfriend they normally don’t let their parents know that. I mean if their 
family knows it’s mainly the sister or the   mother not the father or the brother. If they 
decided to marry one interesting thing is they still have to go through the family. A boy 
cannot go to the girl’s house by himself and   ask to marry the uh the girl. Still have to 
go through the family through the parrots. And uh at what age people here get married? 
Depends. in some rural places, smaller towns, sometimes even under 20, but it’s not a lot. 
It used to be like that between 18 to 20, like my parents’ generation for example. But 
now it’s changed. I’m 36, I’m still single, and many of my friends who are my age, 
some of them are even older still.  So just nobody cares.
Nobody cares. That’s that’s good.
But the main reason these days,   a lot of people uh they don’t want to marry is 
the economy. I mean they like to make family but uh marriage is not cheap in this country. It’s 
really really expensive and finding a nice job to support your family is also not easy. 
It’s a sad reason for not to get married. So exactly
when do people usually   leave their families to live somewhere else?
In Iran is not like western countries. In Iran, uh kids stay with their parents as long as 
they are single. When you are married, you live uh in your own house or apartment, but uh as long 
as you are single, you stay with your parents. What about you?
I still live with my parents. It’s   not something that I don’t want to leave. It’s 
not accepted by the society. I mean, if I leave my family, then gossip start among the people 
around us. What’s wrong with that person? But like what’s wrong with the family? It is changed 
now. I know a lot of people who rented their own apartment and we have also a kind of new relation 
in Iran which is not accepted at all but they call it white marriage like two partners who are not 
married like boyfriend girlfriend who are not married but they live together and it’s getting 
more and more popular in Iran especially in in it’s not okay it’s not I mean by the government 
or even by the society it’s not accepted if for example I go and with my girlfriend in one 
apartment and my neighbors realize that we are boyfriend girlfriend of course they will not 
show a nice reaction these are the new changes   in the country things that we never had them 
but in last one or two decades these kind of changes happened what other changes do you see
there are a lot of younger gener generation who really don’t want to practice the religion Iran 
is a Muslim country and the main religion for the Iranian are Shia Shia Shia Muslim and Shia they 
believe in 12 holy imams. So there are a lot of religious ceremonies like the death anniversary 
of the imams which is a morning day. It’s a sad day and we have it a lot in our calendar. There 
are a lot of religious ceremonies that are public holiday in Iran and they are considered as sad 
religious ceremony. I remember when I was a child when we were on those days no one would play 
music even in the house in their own house or in the car. these days it’s changed. I shouldn’t 
say these things on this video to be honest, but I don’t uh care. I’m telling this so I don’t mind if 
anyone hear me from the government. I know a lot of boys and girls who even make party during those 
days because it’s a public. So they rent a garden, they go out, they drink alcohol, they dance, they 
play music. These are serious change. You know, practicing Islam in Iran is getting less and less. 
Of course, those who are progovernment in Iran, if they hear me, they will write a lot 
of bad comments about me. But uh these   are the reality. If you want to hear it or if 
you don’t want to hear it, is it a fact? Yeah. When I told someone that I’m going to 
Iran, people’s reaction is usually what? But it’s so dangerous there. But
I used to hear that from all of the tourists who been to Iran.
So I’m not surprised. I can’t   say of course because I didn’t have a very 
long experience. So far I feel very safe. It’s all about very
chill vibe from people and   also I was surprised especially about women 
in this country that they are so open and uh a lot of girls come up to me and they start 
talking and saying for example oh your hair is so beautiful where are you from? Yeah.
And they are so talkative and social.   I feel that overall people here are so nice.
Dear Ellie’s audience, please do not believe whatever [ __ ] media tell you. Media always 
try to show the things which are not true. Like it depends who controls the media. If they 
are pro the one country, they’re going to say a lot of nice things about that country. If they are 
against that country and that country doesn’t have any benefit for them, they do whatever they can to 
ruin that country. And that’s exactly what they do with Iran right now. Please divide the people of 
Iran and the government of Iran. There are two different things. What the government of Iran is 
doing is not right. Whatever you hear about the Iran, Iranian culture or what is happening in Iran 
is just political things and it’s not true. We live in peace. People are very kind people. They 
are really open to the tourists. When they see the tourists, as Ellie said, they come to you, they 
say, “Hello, how are you?” They are curious about you to know even if they can’t speak English, 
they try to communicate. You’re going to see nice   nature, nice history, nice culture. So, it’s all 
about the media who always shows bad and negative things. And unfortunately, people trust media more 
than people. And the main reason of tourism in   Iran are people like you, those who visited Iran. 
When they see the reality of Iran and they go to their own country and they give their feedback 
and they show their videos, the photos and they share their experiences, it’s helped the others to 
get confidence to come to Iran and they said, “Oh, what we heard differently.” And then when they 
come, they believe that they were wrong. [Music] can go. [Applause] and he [Music] behold [Applause] [Music] your [Music] [Music] I am a free meal. [Applause] [Music] Oh, [Music] is means city of Persian and uh it’s 
ruins of one of the most ancient cities in the world And I can call Popolis the highlight 
of Persia or highlight of Iran built by the Aameanian. Aameanian Empire established by Cyrus 
the great 558 BC. Aameanian Empire is considered as the biggest empire in the history based on 
the population of the world they control which is almost half of the population of the world 
of their time. And we are at the ruins of their capital Popolis. And who made the excavation 
here? More than 90 years ago American they had a contract with the D government of Iran 
and they came here and they did excavations.   First professor who did excavations here was 
professor Ernest Herszel and after him professor Eric Kashmid was the second archaeologist who did 
excavations. As you can hear both names are German   names but they came as American. Why? Because both 
were German Jewish who had to leave their country. So they came here as American but they were 
German. They worked for about 10 years in here.   When second world war started, Americans left and 
Iranian archaeologists continued. More than 90% of this complex is very well excavated. This complex 
was registered in the list of UNESCO. [Music] My God, it all say [Music]   The most beautiful thing about traveling 
is that before you get to a country, it’s just a point on the map for you without a 
deep meaning. But once you explore the place, the point on the map gets colors. It 
transforms into landscapes, sounds, tastes, faces, feelings, and many memories. 
When you’re back home, everyone will tell you, “Oh, it seems like you’ve never left.” 
But you will want to scream, “Of course,   I’ve left. I’ve lived a whole life during 
that trip, and I’ve changed so much. [Music] Let us see. Let us see the [Music] [Music] Omit said that this is the best Iranian snack. 
Not the best, but it’s one of the best one made out of coconut. They call 
it nargilli. Nargill is coconut. Nargilli. Amazing.
We stopped by the highway. That’s why there are moving trucks around us.
I don’t even know where we are.   Somewhere between Shiras and Yas.
Yes, we were dancing. So, I have a question. Are there some dancing parties in Iran, clubs or no?
Yeah, officially there is no club in Iran. No, no club, no disco, nothing. It’s since 
1979 revolution. It’s forbidden. But there are a lot of underground parties 
in Iran. So many underground clubs. Yeah, underground clubs. Yes. And also people uh for 
different occasions, they rent their own garden. uh they rent the garden for a night and then they 
invite in invite friends or families and they ask a DJ to come but it’s illegal officially 
in general dancing in public is forbidden in Iran but at the wedding normally most of 
the weddings in Iran are separated recently there are more modern secular families they try 
to have this kind of weddings which is mixed but traditionally it’s separated men and women 
when it’s separated yeah Men dance in their own uh section. Women dance in the uh their own 
section. But to be honest, dancing in the men’s part of the wedding is like being in a gay party.
I don’t know what it means and maybe I don’t want to know.
Imagine there are 200 guys in   one hall and then 100 of them are dancing 
together. Then you are dancing and then a guy with a big mustache come to you and dance 
like this in front of you. What do you feel? My next destination is Isvahan. It’s 
a major city of central Iran and one of the most important architectural centers 
in the Islamic world. Isvahan has thousands of historical monuments leading to the 
saying Isvahan is half of the world which suggests that a visit to Isvahan is like 
experiencing half of the world’s wonders. [Music] my hair. It’s like me.  You look great.
I look awful. This is Rasul from Isvahan and he will show me 
around the city. And actually, he is the reason why I came to Iran.
Okay.  Uh he is the subscriber of my channel 
and he’s the head of T Persia. Yes. and he invited me here one day. 
I just get an email and now I’m here. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] So what is the traditional Iranian food? Well, 
the ones that we have here, we have tachin, which is like a rice cake made with butter, 
saffron, and cooked root chicken. Could be red meat or oergene inside. We have kashka 
madamun. It’s vegetarian. It’s made of ve and oergene. And then we have mash polo, who is a 
rice. Normally we do it with meat or dates and of course basilas and fresh veggies are like herbs 
are here very common to have beside your food. It’s the most popular like 
ingredient rice for Iranian food. Rice is very popular. We normally 
have this rule that we either have   the food with the rice or with the bread.
So I never tried rice with dates. Interesting. Very interesting. Good. What is this made of?
This one made of ogene mostly and one dairy product called in English they call it 
way. It’s like condensed milk, salty milk, something like that. And interesting thing in 
Iranian food we use many spices but the food is not spicy in the matter of it’s not.
Mhm. It’s very very delicious. Saffron is the most expensive spice in the 
world. We call it wet gold. It’s used in a small quantities for like foods, drinks, ice 
cream and like for med medicational reasons. And it makes you more energetic, happy and it’s 
a magical spice. I believe when you smell it, you realize it’s a very has a very majestic like 
royal smell and taste. Wow. Wow. Very interesting smell. The reason it’s expensive is because 
the saffron comes from this flower and then   each flower gives only three strings of this 
uh like saffron. So imagine how many flowers they should harvest to be able to like catch 
something like this. How often would you use it? Every day in the rice in drinks we 
use it on ice cream and cakes. Some people also in the tea we use it when we 
are a bit tired so we want to get more   energy we use it as well.
Saffron uh drink. Yeah. M. It’s a bit sweet, but not 
too sweet and interesting. [Music] Around 400 years ago, Iran was bigger country 
and then consisted of different regions including Armenia. The king of Iran Trabas invited 
Armenians here to expand business with the rest of the world. So they were given lands in the south 
part of the city. They made their own churches and   they’ve been living here for last centuries. They 
have their own schools. They practice their own religion. They speak Armenian to each other. But 
the old version of Armenian. They are very well   integrated with the rest of Iranians. But this 
neighborhood is like majority of them in this town, they live here. When it comes to public, 
they follow Islamic rules, but they’re allowed   to have their own alcohols. They have their own 
club and like bar, but it’s only private to them. The architecture of this church is a combination 
of the Iranian art and the Armenian art. So you can still see this Iranian tiles here as well as 
well as the paintings related to Christianity. Most of this yellow color with the paintings 
are made of gold and normally rich Armenian   businessmen were donating to actually build 
this church and many other churches around here. [Music] Armenian neighborhood is a place where more 
locals hang out a lot, not only Armenians, because it has a nice vibe and there 
are many cafes and restaurants here.   And when you look at the people’s dresses 
here, it’s more like open and like less conservative because the young generation 
normally hang out in this part of a city.  In front of me, I see many girls without 
headscarf. What do guys think about this? We like it.
Well, it’s nice.  I mean, you don’t think, oh, she is such a bad. No, no, no, no. Not like it. Maybe in the 
old generation. Yeah. But young generation,   not anymore. So, you don’t judge.
No, of course not. I should be preferred. Ah, yeah.
Yes, of course. Is it true that if I don’t wear a headscarf in a 
car, you can get a fine? Unfortunately, yes. Uh, but what they see a girl without a 
headscarf and they stop your car?  No. And they do it like I think with the with 
the cameras. They take a photo of the like the camera of the car and then they find the 
car. and you will receive a notification   on your phone that your car has been 
fined because of this. It’s not good. It’s so strange that in the streets girls don’t 
wear it and then you can get a fine for this. Yeah. Many people don’t care 
anymore like they still like   don’t wear it or or they get many fines. [Music] So let’s see. [Music] Is this a typical apartment for Iranians to live 
now? Many people live like this. For the younger generation, yes. But for my parents generation is 
too simple. So when my mom is here, she’s always like, “Oh, why is it like empty there? Why don’t 
you put something?” Because they’re maximalist.  This is considered too minimalistic.
Yes. Yes. Many people now live in apartments like this.
Yes. Typical apartments,   modern apartments like this. And uh how much cost 
for rent per month for example? Rent like I think depends of which part of the city you are. Right 
now we are not in the center. So if you are in   the not very expensive part of the city so it 
could be $100 to $150 per month. $150. Yes. For apartment like this.
Yes. But for apartment like this.  But the thing is that people’s income are actually 
is quite low. So 150 is expensive for many people with this view. And it’s so huge and Okay,
it went into the pomegranate. No, it’s full of pomegranate. Okay,
you know what? Let me your carpet. I’m so sorry. But 
what is the average salary then? The simple workers, people who have a very low 
wage, the minimum is they earn like $200 per month. Normal job, it depends in a smaller cities 
like here compared to Tuan earn probably $300, $400 per month. In Taiwan is more, the costs 
are also more. Apartment in the center,   smaller one can go up to like $300 
per month rent or $400 per month. And today we were talking a lot about uh 
headscarf. At home, women don’t wear it. Yeah. Yeah. Know at home nobody wears it. Yeah. 
So there are some rules that in public people   should like dress in a specific way and some 
ways are not accepted or they will be fined or they will be picked on up or whatever. And 
people have different opinion about this.   has made people to have like kind of double 
lives. When you look at the Instagram and people’s like profiles and on social medias or 
anywhere else, Tik Tok and stuff, there are many people who lost stuff, they go to parties, they 
have like they they don’t have a job, but when they like on the streets, they they wear it.
They can post a picture in some, I don’t know, short dress without uh headscarf and it’s okay.
Yes. Yes. Wow. I’m very confused. Yeah, it’s a bit I think all 
Iran is a country of paradoxes.  Iran is a country where all the stereotypes just 
break about it because you know it’s considered that it’s such a very strict strict country 
and uh in the beginning I thought that you always need to wear headscarf. I thought there 
would be maybe police absolutely everywhere, but overall I see it’s everyone is so chill. 
Everyone who comes to says the same thing. And you said that you went to Russia. 
What was your biggest culture shock   or thing that surprised you the most?
I think the infrastructure was very good in Russia. That was like I didn’t expect it. It was 
very like advanced I believe especially uh before you think okay so it’s a war time so maybe it’s 
a bit chaotic but the normal life was like going on and uh I think that was very interesting 
like how the like people continue living. What do you think Iranians 
should learn from Russians?  Russians they I think they cope with the nature 
very good because the country is very natural. It’s like the population compared to the area 
of the country is very low. It has a still many untouched uh nature and people actually I 
I felt that they care about nature like I I felt that they are more concerned about like 
keep it clean or like not destroying the nature here. Here unfortunately less the difference 
is here people have been living here for a   very long time. So majority of the landscape 
here has been changed due to human activities. And what should Russians learn from Iranians? 
I think Iranians are a bit less shy. I think they smile more compared to Russians. It’s true.
It’s true. I think they were very nice in Russia, but I think even in Iran are even more 
friendly and like more welcoming. And   I think in Iran people speak more English 
compared to Russians, which was surprised because I expected people in Russia speak 
more English than Iranians, but it was a   bit difficult to find people who speak English, 
so to like get in touch with and interact with. Yeah. A lot of people speak English.
Yeah. But the one of the main reason is first as   you probably see that we don’t have many travelers 
to the country and the travelers who come here are normally very different kind of tourists or 
travelers. It’s not a beach holiday destination. People who come here they are more like cultural 
educated and sophisticated who travel to Iran because it’s a like they come for history culture 
and it makes them a bit more well traveled.  Okay. And I want to thank you 
Rasul again for inviting me here. Oh, happy to. Thank you for coming. This 
is the best experience ever. [Music] It’s midnight and the city is just full of life.
It’s because it’s it’s very hot during the day. So, everybody comes out at night. So, 
people are picnicking, hanging out like   till late at night here.
Picnics at night. Yes. [Music] Good morning. I my good I just want to say that I’ve been 
to 35 countries but never such connection between people and uh 
like being so alive and amazing. [Applause] It’s one thing to read the news about wars 
and victims somewhere far away in the world. You feel sad, but it’s a completely another 
thing to read such news when in your head you   see faces of people that you know who live 
in that region. Behind any news and behind anything that the media tells you, there 
are always regular people just like you.   People who wish for the same thing around 
the world to simply live a happy life.

What do you usually hear in the news about Iran?
Iran is one of the most negatively portrayed countries in the media. But don’t forget that the media only shows you things that benefit them, and that the regime and politics depict only one side of the full picture, and behind of that there are always regular people… Let’s travel across the country and hear the real stories from locals to understand what it’s really like to live in Iran.

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📍 More videos:
https://youtu.be/NCM4Nv4ZoB0 – Visiting the HOTTEST Place on Earth in Iran : the Lut Desert

https://youtu.be/NfMtr9wD7Jw – Life in the MOST SANCTIONED COUNTRY in the World

https://youtu.be/ILsj2LDl10U – Life in Russia after sanctions – ULTIMATE journey through the east to the west
___
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Time codes:
00:00 Heading from Moscow to Tehran
03:20 What is Shiraz famous for?
08:33 Let’s take a walk in the ancient Shiraz bazaar
11:50 Money exchange and roller coaster rates
16:34 Sincere talk: sanctions, relationships, religion
28:54 The highlight of Persia: Persepolis
31:18 Partying in Iran… exists?
34:37 Isfahan and Tap Persia
37:15 Iranian cuisine
39:40 Armenian neighbourhood in Isfahan
42:45 Apartments: how locals live typically
44:27 Salaries, social networks, Russia-Iran trips insights
48:20 People is not the regime