At major pedestrian and traffic intersections around the city of Tehran, makeshift shelters have been set up to spread the anti-Israeli message. If there was any ambiguity about the position of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding Israel, there can be no doubt about it now - "Israel must be wiped out [sic] the world".
Photographs of Iran
© Iranvisitor.com
2 comments:
Are you a supporter of Hezbollah? Are most Iranians? What's the feeling like on the street in Tehran?
Shmuel
Jerusalem, Israel
Personally, I support peace, though I have sympathy with the Palestinian cause, as most politically aware westerners do.
As for most Iranians, it is not easy to categorise them as having one voice. I'm told that Ahmadinejad represents about 30% of the population and I suppose this section of society appreciates the strong line that he appears to be taking. However, so far, I have seen nothing "on the streets" other than these posters. And no one appears to be that interested in them. Some Iranians even seem vaguely embarrassed when I take pictures of them.
A significant proportion are simply tired of hearing about Palestine and don't believe that Iran should have anything to do with the issue. A common line of argument is "why should we concern ourselves with Palestine when we have so many problems at home?"
But as we know, this is part of a much larger geo-political issue concerning US interests in the Middle East and Iran's attempts to score political points in the Islamic world by taking the lead in the resistance movement. What the man in the street believes is usually shaped by what their goverment wants them to believe - and that goes for both sides.
Post a Comment