COMFORTABLE IRANIANS COPE BY ACCOMMODATING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000226

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/IR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2020
TAGS: IR PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: COMFORTABLE IRANIANS COPE BY ACCOMMODATING

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons 1.4(b) an
d (d).


1. (C) Iran Watcher met this week with two young Iranians
from Esfahan, Azadeh and her brother Mohamad. They had
traveled to Ashgabat for Azadeh's U.S. visa interview, and
spoke about living, and coping, in Iran. Azadeh, who is 29
and single, manages a tour company in Esfahan that arranges
foreign tours for middle and upper-class Iranian travelers.
She has accompanied groups to western Europe and Russia, as
well as Bulgaria and Ukraine. Iranians, she said, "love to
travel," and those who can afford it use frequent trips
abroad as a way of escaping the myriad restrictions that many
have come to accept as a normal part of life in Iran. As a
child in the 1980s, her family lived for a number of years in
Dubai before returning to Esfahan, where her father owns a
trading firm that exports marble, onyx and other building
materials.


2. (C) Mohamad, who is several years older, works in the
family firm. It exports building materials to a number of
countries, including China, and Mohamad has traveled
extensively in Asia and the Middle East. Friendly and
outgoing, he makes friends wherever he travels. Once, during
a trip to Beirut, while dining with friends at a restaurant,
he said he met an Israeli, who invited him to visit Israel,
including Jerusalem. According to Mohamad, the friend
arranged their passage overland, so Mohamad was allowed to
enter without a visa or having his passport stamped. (NOTE:
As unusual as this story was, Iran Watcher found the
interlocutor solidly credible, including his description of
the visit. END NOTE). Mohamad said that he came away from
the visit with a new respect and admiration for Israel and
its people.

DRINKING, NIGHTCLUBS AND HIJAB


3. (C) Both Mohamad and Azadeh said they like living in Iran,
wouldn't live anywhere else. Neither particularly supports
Iran's opposition movement, although Mohamad can understand
why it is calling for change: "Those of us who are a little
older have learned to accept this regime and its restrictions
on our lives," he said, "but the average 20-year old just
doesn't understand why they should follow all these rules."
Referring to his own life, he said, "I'm a Muslim, but
shouldn't it be up to me whether I drink alcohol? It's a
personal decision. I also like to go to nightclubs once in a
a while, but that's also outlawed in Iran. And believe me,
everyone is sick of the requirement that women wear hijab.
It might seem unimportant, but it really does matter to
people. People just resent all the control." Mohamad said
that, like so many others, he copes with Iran's restrictive
life by "getting on an airplane."
Azadeh echoed that "women cannot even swim in Iran." Some
beaches, including at the Caspian Sea, have segregated
beaches, but only boys under the age of six are allowed to
accompany their mothers to the "women's" beach, so most
families find it too difficult and just give up trying to go
swimming. She said she is constantly booking travel for
Iranian families to Thailand and Malaysia, to which there are
direct flights from Tehran, in addition to the popular
destinations of Turkey and Dubai.

THE HIERARCHY OF FOREIGN STUDY OPTIONS


4. (C) Azadeh described Iranians as "obsessed" with foreign
study, and said that parents will sacrifice almost anything
to give their children the possibility of attending a
university outside of Iran. She ascribes this to the belief
that Iran's higher education system has deteriorated to the
point where any school outside the country is considered
preferable. (Her own sister recently moved to Australia so
that her own children could attend high school and college
there). Foreign degrees also carry more prestige in Iran,
she said,in terms of future job prospects. Everyone's first
choice is the U.S. If a student is unsuccessful in obtaining
a U.S. visa, however, the second choice is the UK or
Australia, then France or the Netherlands, and so on. Less

ASHGABAT 00000226 002 OF 002


desirable destinations, like Turkey or the former USSR, are
still considered better than university in Iran, she said,
noting that universities in Armenia are full of Iranian
students.


5. (C) COMMENT: Our interlocutors, financially comfortable
and focused on their careers, do not support Iran's
opposition movement, nor are they fans of the regime. They
represent a third group of Iranians, who are disinclined to
engage in the debate raging in Iran over last June's election
or the future of the country. For the most part, they enjoy
their lives, have learned to live with the restrictions that
govern them, and, in their own words, "let off steam" by
traveling abroad. END COMMENT.
CURRAN