IRAN-Regime of the Well-Oiled Gun

Regime of the Well-Oiled Gun NOTHING illustrates the contradictions within Iran better than the state of its capital. The northern part of Teheran, just short of the snow-capped mountain ranges, is new, modern and aggressively western'; to the south of the city, however, people still live in 'oriental' chaos and squalor. Six years ago, I had stayed free in a gurdwara in .south Teheran; when I recently revisited the city, this time as an Iran government guest attending an international film festival, we were housed in a luxury hotel in the northern sector, safely insulated from realities.