Chapter One

Navigating the Islamic Republic

Getting There, Getting In

TAXI DRIVER: I really shouldn't be driving you into Tehran without an order from the Imam. I could get my hands chopped off.

ROBERT REDFURN: Well, I appreciate your accepting a bribe. I really do.

TAXI DRIVER: It's been a while. We don't get too many Westerners in town
anymore. The only Americans we've seen in months are the liars and demons of the
U.S. press. You hail from the Great Satan yourself, right?

ROBERT REDFURN: Uh, right. New York, actually.

TAXI DRIVER: I can always tell. How long you been working for the C.I.A.?

— DOONESBURY COMIC STRIP, MAY 30, 1980, IN THE MIDST OF THE HOSTAGE
CRISIS

Persia is a country made for wandering onward.

— VITA SACKVILLE-WEST, PASSENGER TO TEHERAN

I have never liked flying into Iran in the middle of the night. But after too many trips to count, I now have the drill down pat.

It isn't easy to get there from the United States. Tehran is 6,337 miles from Washi ... read full excerpt from: Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran ebook