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It's a thing in Iran with jeans. For religious extremists, the most American of all trousers is non-Islamic, a symbol of decadent Western lifestyles. Most Iranians, especially young people, are not interested. They wear jeans, men and women, many do not even associate a protest. It was only in 2013 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that if the Iranians were free, they would wear jeans and listen to Western music. Thousands of Iranians have posted photos and video clips of their pants on the net, backed by American pop. Hassan Sadeghi can still laugh about it today. It was the best advertisement that he could ask.
"In fact," says the 35-year-old, "jeans are good business". He is a wholesaler at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran. Of course, he wears one himself, dark blue, plus a polo shirt, short black hair, a three-day beard. His store is located where the bazaar has no oriental flourishes, no winding corridors, but concrete, glass, neon lights, sliding metal doors. Hassan Sadeghi is sitting behind his counter in front of two smartphones and a glass of tea. "In fact," he says again. "But there's never been something like that." Hassan Sadeghi no longer sells pants. Not because no customer wants to buy more. But because he does not want to give his property anymore.
Since the spring it had become clear that US President Donald Trump would end the nuclear deal. Since then, the crisis in Iran is back. The currency is falling, even though US sanctions are not yet in force. And now, in the Tehran Grand Bazaar, what will happen if the punitive measures are effective will be seen.
Unstable exchange rate
Business is not only bad, it's not working at all, "says Hassan Sadeghi shaking his head. "We spend the day drinking tea and standing." He started as a shopping boy 20 years ago and now has his own store. He had good times, but also the nuclear conflict and the years under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the sanctions of the United States and Europeans. But nothing has disturbed it as much as the past months.
Because not only with jeans, but also with the dollar, it's a thing in Iran. More than anything, he represents the Great Satan, to whom the Friday preacher wished death every week with a stretched fist. But it does not help. US power can not escape the Islamic Republic – the world exchanges in dollars, even though Tehran's central bank announced in March that international transactions will now only be settled in euros
"The dollar goes up and down the flag on the mast," says jeans merchant Sadeghi. "But, in recent weeks, he knew only one direction: upwards." Factory of his own brother in Iran, where his trousers are sewn, with his two brothers, who are also dealers of jeans.But they buy fabrics, rivets, threads abroad, and for that they need foreign currency.The problem: Sadeghi no longer has money.The Tehran government wanted to stop the decline of the Rial, the national currency.In April, it established an exchange rate official: since then, the central bank sells the dollar for 42 000 rials – but not at all t the world and certainly not indefinitely. It only gives money to merchants who, according to the government, import essential goods. Denim does not seem to belong to it, but a good-looking football club in the province received $ 2.5 million, supposedly to introduce car tires. And 220 Million went to importers of mobile phones
"The consequences of 40 years of mismanagement and incompetence are now intensifying." Saeed Laylaz, Counselor of the Iranian Government
In the streets, there are signs calling to buy Iranian goods. 1339 products were declared by the Ministry of Commerce as luxury goods, prohibiting imports from keeping foreign currency in the country: furniture, household appliances, shoes, leather goods, machinery. And textiles, what Sadeghi should really use. In fact,
Sitting on jeans
"As long as the price is not stable, we are selling nothing," says Sadeghi. He and his brothers prefer to keep their property – which, unlike the Rial, has lasting value. "We have to be able to calculate the price for which we can make purchases and make new ones before we sell our shares." That's why they've been sitting on their jeans for three months now. The exchange offices of Ferdowsi Street, where Sadeghi was able to buy foreign currency at least at the market price, are closed or do not have money. And the money changers next to the bazaar take twice as much in the morning, no one knows how much it will be in the evening.
The dollar has become a symbol of misery, a measure of uncertainty in the country, the loss of confidence. The radical Grossayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi (91) demanded to run some money changers as a deterrent. Long imprisonment threatens today, even the client. But that only drove the price higher. People buy real estate, imported cars or gold to save their fortune. But even these become more expensive – the price is calculated in dollars. Sadeghi constantly checks the course with his mobile phones, but the view on the screen does not raise the mood.
There was a strike in the bazaar recently, for two days, it was the first time since 2012. The dealers went to parliament to protest. It has not happened for a long time either. The Basari are considered as conservative and reliable pillars of the regime. "Everyone in Iran knows what it means when the bazaar goes on strike," says Sadeghi. Traders had supported the Islamic Revolution in 1979, with strikes, their political influence and especially with money – in the end, the Shah was crushed.
A 17-year-old teenager was recently jailed for a dance video on Instagram
Sadeghi did not go out on the street, but tear gas went to the bazaar. Police officers in black uniforms from a special unit patrolled the streets with helmets and batons, as well as plainclothes security guards. The regime is on guard, do not lose control. Already at the beginning of the year, people had demonstrated in more than 100 cities. But a critical mass, as in 1979, has not reached the manifestations so far.
Sadeghi stayed in his shop, you never know. Riot, looting. He tries to maintain a sense of normalcy, and the jeans factory is still running. "We pay wages through our savings," he says. The material is enough for three months. But if things do not change quickly, they will have to fire the people who close the production.
This is the number of small business owners; they represent about half of all jobs in the private sector, which constitutes explosive political power. To continue sewing, the sadeghis can only afford because they own the houses in which they live, the stores they have assets. This gives security to the family, Sadeghi is married, has two children. "We are a middle class among traders," he says. "Not big, not small."
USA responsible
The regime accuses America of all problems, of course: "The United States lead an economic war against Iran," says the Guide supreme, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The enemy plans to sow discord between the leaders and the people". And President Hassan Rohani appeared the day after the bazaar protests on state television and said: "Even in the worst case, I promise that Iranian is taken care of.We have enough of Sugar, wheat and cooking oil We have enough foreign currency to put on the market. "
Hassan Sadeghi followed Rohani's speech with his colleagues on the cell phone. reassuring to her: "If we see that there is no money, why should we believe that there is sugar and flour?" Almost no one knows still what we can and can not believe
The panther clings to old so-called reassuring certainties: Iran is a big, rich and powerful country, he says , a proud and millennial civilization America? A few hundred years ago, the buffalo were still grazing there. "We should have a good life", d It Sadeghi. "We sell oil for billions of dollars, where is the money?" He blames the government for the fate of his business, and is not alone. "Decades of mismanagement," he says, are the cause of the crisis, not Donald Trump, as all officials in Iran repeatedly point out
Dissatisfaction grows [19659002] Not only in the bazaar shoppers dissatisfaction, normal people, workers, employees, actors, teachers, computer scientists feel the problems, and it is not always clear if this 39, is the uncertainty, the dollar is really rare or only wants to take advantage of the situation
For example, cigarettes have more than doubled their price, although they are manufactured in Iran. Even melons cost half more, they grow in the country and do not depend on the exchange rate of the dollar. And even vital things like pacemakers can no longer be found, at least not in clinics or the open market. Some traders have some, but do not sell them – for the same reasons, the jeans dealer does not sell his jeans.
When President Rohani came to power in 2013, the dollar cost 36,000 riyals – and he promised economic recovery, so he was re-elected last year. But now, many are wondering why Iran spends so much money abroad and not in their own country. "Forget Syria, think of us!" Shouted Protestant Basari. One could add: Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, where Iran supports the militia with weapons, money and sometimes officers of the Revolutionary Guard. "Death to the dictator!", He echoed again in the streets of Tehran – meaning the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, the most powerful man in the Islamic Republic, who is considered inviolable
the green revolution shook the regime. At that time, millions of people took to the streets in Tehran against electoral fraud when Ahmadinejad was re-elected president. Of course, some in Washington are dreaming of toppling the home regime with angry protests in the streets of Iran, even though Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo says it's not going to happen. It's not about "regime change". Trump is jubilant, but his withdrawal from the nuclear deal has led Iran to change. "They do not look so much at what is happening in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere," he said. "Iran is not the same country as a few months ago."
There were demos in more than 100 locations
With the last sentence, Trump may be right. People walk in the streets, not just basari. It all began with year – round protests in more than 100 locations across the province. It goes on every day, somewhere in Iran. Sometimes there is a shortage of water, sometimes exceptional wages. If you talk to the kids on the street in January, they say, "We have nothing to lose!" Not even their lives, for which they see no future.
The situation is exactly like 1979, it's all said Said Laylaz, a reformist-like analyst who sometimes advises the Rohani government. He has not been interviewed for months, now in his uncle's house in the east of Tehran. Now he wants to talk – because the whispers of regime change, he considers nonsense. There will be no collapse of the Islamic Republic. "The main problem with the system is that it's not effective," says Laylaz, "now the consequences of 40 years of mismanagement and incompetence are thickening." This leads to turbulence, but even some parts of the establishment benefit from the penalties. "Take mobile phone dealers." They got dollars at the official rate, but only invested 75 out of 220 million, the rest of the money is gone. And the phones were selling them as dearly as they had bought the currencies on the black market. Why, he asks, does the government even give currency to mobile phones if only the necessary goods have to be imported?
External Pressure
Anyway, the Americans Should not Be Made According to Laylaz, the system has always stabilized so far, Trump only supports the extremists right in Iran. And the consultant also considers that the Basari strike is not particularly dangerous. According to Laylaz, women protesting wearing headscarves are really scared by hardliners.
Conservative-dominated justice keeps beating. A 17-year-old man was jailed for a dance video on Instagram, and other women were convicted of waving their headscarves on a stick.
Arrested for dancing: Iranian Maedeh Hojabri. Video: Youtube
But people can not stand the pressure anymore, Laylaz says: "Every day I see 50 women in the car, who wear their hijab on their shoulders in the summer heat, and I do not see any police morality that goes against it. "Too much risk of incitement to protest.More than rising prices, people have been outraged that censorship has not allowed people to believe it. ex-Spanish footballer Carles Puyol to play as an expert in the television studio in Tehran because he has long hair.The arrest of the dancer was followed by hundreds of solidarity videos from Other women At best, Iran will allow itself to be changed internally by the Iranians because the consultant's analyzes can be read.But in spite of any dissatisfaction, he says – "the vast majority of Iranians do not want violence ", not a new revolution In January, the regime sent In the streets the militia Basij and Revolutionary Guards – a clear warning that there were dead.
Leadership lacks
Unlike 2009, the protests have no personality, the opponent of Ahmadinejad. Mehdi Karroubi and the still-popular Mir Hossein Mousavi are still under house arrest today. A return of Reza Pahlewi, the son of the Shah, who has been living in exile in the United States since 1979, he considers a madness – corresponding slogans of protesters just for the record that there is no one Charismatic in Iran, behind which unsatisfied crowds could
Hassan Sadeghi, the jeans salesman of the bazaar, said, "I do not see anyone in Iranian politics who could solve the problem." His wife voted twice to Rohani that it was a mistake. He has not voted since 2009. It was not better under Ahmadinejad, he said, he certainly did not want to go back there. He trusted God, he ended up with politics.
In February 2019, the Islamic Revolution marks its 40th anniversary. And Sadeghi also knows that the months before will be decisive for his country, his business and his family. It's not until noon, but he drops the roller shutter from his jeans shop and goes home to his family. What will he do all day at the store if he does not sell pants anyway? (Tages-Anzeiger)
created: 20.07.2018, 20:10
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