We grew up living under sanctions, we see nothing surprising in them Yesterday we changed 150 dollars to 37950000 rials The inflation reached 40% a year The sanctions paralysed us Tehran reminds me of Moscow in the 90s if we’re talking about street vending

No way guys this is coke You can get something delivered from abroad through Azerbaijan or Turkey I’m really interested in how YouTube which is banned here functions via VPN We can afford renting a house but we can’t afford buying it

More and more Iranians blame their government for their country’s economic troubles Will Russia be like Iran now? Hello my friends, we are in Tehran, the capital city of Iran I presume you understand why we are here right now Having been sanctioned,

Russia became the country against which the biggest amount of sanctions was approved Before 2022 Russia’s place was being taken by Iran for many decades Now it is on the second place but I want to say that there is no need

In drawing some sort of connections between Russia and Iran concerning that matter Iran is a theocratic state with a religious leader as its head religion means really much for all Iranians and for Iranian nation in general Though Russian and Iran have much in common

Especially when we’re talking about sanctions The Central bank’s assets are blocked here Oil import is prohibited There are limitations on bringing new technologies There are practically no Western brands here The internet is also limited that’s why everyone uses VPN

In general, we have much in common We came here to see how the country which has been in this situation for a long time Lives and copes with it Yet again, I’m not talking about a month or a year, I’m talking about decades. Let’s go!

[Farid] We met each other 9 years ago when we were completing our master course [Sagar] We had been studying together for 2 years, then we had been friends for a year I told him directly to make the first step

And he had no other choice but to marry me – We got married after university and we have been living together for 6 years for now – I was a journalist before Now I’m working in an organization connected to environmental protection

– I’m an IT-specialist, my job is connected to different softwares – Have you bought this house recently? – We rent it – The thing is, me and Farid are from middle-class families but we both have been earning money since we were 17 years old

We gained job experience and got good grades in university to find an appropriate job and to earn quite an adequate salary That’s why we can afford renting a house but we still can’t afford buying one That’s bad

– During the last several years the prices for an estates have been severely increasing The building of houses had also become more expensive Other currencies cost more now and the prices are growing [Pivovarov] I heard you there were 3 ways to buy dollars here

– At least 3, yes. There is an official price It is mostly for the preferential purchases of dollars There are those who import the most important stuff for instance, paper which is not fully produced in Iran They buy dollars with some concessions Yeah, that’s it

So they can buy products needed for Iran abroad That’s the first way. The other way is to buy dollars for a price the market offers you That is the price of dollar in exchange offices – it’s interesting that the exchange price – 25200 – is not in rials

Which is a national currency here but in tumans they were used here before No, no, thank you! You see, as soon as you come to this place you are offered to change money

Tuman is the old currency, to convert it to the current one you just need to write an additional zero Because here are too many of them The prices in exchange offices are written in tumans just because it’s more convenient There is another important limitation an Iran citizen

Is allowed to change only 2200 dollars or 2000 euros a year that is the limitation for buying them but when you’re selling dollars you are allowed to do that without any restrictions because the country lacks currency and the currency is really needed

But Iran is the country where everything is based on personal connections and on people who can just come to you and offer you to change everything you want to and no rules about €2,000 or $2,200 are being ignored

If you have a possibility to do so you are actually able to change so much currency as you want to [Smagin] to be honest, if of all those exchange offices located in Iran did everything legally there would be none of them

Of course, the exchange offices in Iran are a whole other story the majority of the operations is being made illegally so tough Irani laws are levelled by their optional observance? – yeah, just like everywhere else [Pivovarov] there is a high level of inflation in Iran

Local currency rial is constantly getting cheaper because of the sanctions we changed $150 yesterday take a look at what amount of money we’ve got. You know how much money is there? 37950000 rials the biggest banknote is 500000 rials so all Iranians are millionaires

Periodically the level of inflation reaches 30-40% in a month it is normal and happens several times a year imagine if it was rouble, if you compare rouble to dollar, if you go back to our reality for a second it is also seen

We all remember that many years ago the dollar cost 30 roubles but it has never cost 300 roubles – it has never been so expensive and I hope it will never be This devaluation took 5 years here in Iran so using dollars as a way to invest is ok

There also are unique ways of investing the most important thing is a golden coin. there are coins made just from gold this is only Iran’s thing, you can buy those gold coins for a price named by gold coins exchange offices

They are also used as a way to invest and save money estate is the most common way to invest because of the situation the price of flats and houses is quite high

It often happens that those prices grow faster than the level of inflation is there such a thing as a mortgage in Iran? – there isn’t all kinds of loans are banned in Iran What I mean is that usury is prohibited in Islam

I’ll use a car as an example because it is the simplest one for instance, your car costs 10000 dollars you can buy it for that price straight away but you can take an installment and buy it for 15000 dollars

And it won’t be considered a loan – yes, it won’t this is an exception theoretically, you can do such a thing with a flat but there are more more beneficial offers considering flats

In Iran there is a program called Mehr, this is a program which supports young families they are giving loans for them to buy a flat and they pay practically no percents this project was targeted to those who live in the suburban area and couldn’t afford renting or buying a flat

There were many apartment complexes built near big cities and people could buy a flat there for a friendly price unfortunately, everything is not that simple first of all, this is a suburban area and if you want to work in a city

You need to spend some amount of time to go to the city in addition living conditions there are not so good it’s not the thing we want to spend our money for how much does an average flat in Tehran cost? actually there is no fixed price

The flats in different districts cost different amounts of money I guess it’s somewhere near 30-35 million tumans for a square meter for now – and that’s not in the downtown – no it’s not downtown the prices are even bigger. 60-65 million for a square meter

[Pivovarov] what is the average salary in Iran? I know that it’s impossible to compare Tehran and the remaining Iran it’s the same as Moscow and other Russian cities. The average is… the average salary in Tehran is approximately $500 the average salary in Iran is approximately $300

Yeah, that’s it it’s important to mention that the prices here in Iran are much lower than in the other world it’s clearly seen when you are being isolated

The prices if you count them and dollars will be completely different from those which are in other countries 145 00:11:49,232 –> 00:11:52,718 – what about pensions? – we’ve got quite a complicated system

Because here your pension depends on where you’ve worked before If you are from security agencies if you are an officer you’ll get a really good pension It could be more than 1000 dollars and it’s alright If you are a retired university professor

Your pension would also be approximately 1000 dollars It’s really much for Iranians – for Russians too – for Russians too, yes. It’s quite a big amount of money Nevertheless, there are those who can’t get any pension at all

If you worked in a private sector you would get no pension [Pivovarov] Of course, there are no international payment systems In Iran. All banks are disconnected from SWIFT there is no Visa and no Mastercard However you can see ATMs everywhere

You can pay with a debit card anywhere even on the market Because Iran had its own inner payment system there are cards like that and they’re called shetab They are a part of this inner system which is a substitute to the international one

But obviously it won’t be possible to pay for something with it abroad [Smagin] there are special banking schemes For example there is such a thing in Russia. We’ve got “Mir Business Bank” It’s Russian but all of the investments are Iranian

The easiest way to invest is to send some money from this bank to Iran De-jure Iran receives those money the same moment And the bank gives you money right away but in fact once a week they are being delivered from Russia in cash Or once a month

So you actually pay in cash To be honest, it shouldn’t matter when a foreigner in another country tells you to give a certain man a certain amount of money. So there is no problem in giving it that way while that certain man receives it a bit later

[Pivovarov] There is an instrument of trading things which is common only in Islamic world But it is told to be created in India It’s called Havala or Islam banking This is a type of business which is based only on trust It reply helps in international trading

For instance, if I want to buy something in China I sell some items here and buy some other items in China I go to the importer here, pay them money and receive the product Then the importer calls their Chinese partner

And says that he has sold some thing for a certain amount of money And then some Chinese traders complete another exchange operation In their local currency and this operation is also based only on trust No money are being sent to another country directly so nobody would notice anything

At the same time, mutual settlement is gradually becoming balanced and works for many years. Can you imagine how it is done? [Vasilchenko] if you need to pay for something you ask someone to pay a commission for the transaction

There are such difficulties but I am actually used to that did you meet your husband on vacation? – yes – did you fly from Astana to Thailand? – yes – and your husband Mohammed is from Tehran, right?

Yes. what’s ironic is that both of us didn’t really want to go there and how did you decide to move to Tehran? I understood that this man is a really good partner for me in my life how did your mom react? of course when she heard it she said

That I’d go missing all the post-soviet mothers for some reason associate Iran with Iraq or other Arab countries she had second thoughts but when she and Mohammed knew each other better everything became clear which is good is your main job running a beauty salon?

– yes – how common is this business? Iranian Beauty area is very popular, very common and has no concurrents because Iranian beauty standards differ from Russian and Kazakh is your beauty salon expensive?

It’s for upper-middle class. my clients are in general rich Iranian women yes who have got more time… – yes more time and money – you have an iPhone, right? – yeah

[Pivovarov] we are in the district near Chersu mall it can be compared to the biggest Moscow market in the 90s if you know what I mean the street trading in Tehran reminds me of Moscow in the 90s you can buy electronic devices here, including phones

As you can see, there are many phones to choose from those are obviously used Iphones and this thing is also popular in Iran because in Russia it is not acceptable to resell old phones but here is this is a really common thing

[The translator] how much does this Iphone 13 cost? – 43500 – here you can buy an iPhone 13 512 GBs for 1670 dollars the price is quite the same as in Moscow do you see all those names Samsung, LG, Sony world

They all are unofficial no Samsung products are being sold officially on Iranian Market but they are being imported and sold in shops Sony world of course has nothing to do with Sony but most likely they sell original products there

But nobody is asking for any permissions Iran actually has no limitations concerning copyrights you can see an ad where Brad Pitt is promoting something of course Brad Pitt doesn’t get any money from that but it still works like that

I don’t feel like there is a trade going on only on streets here, look! there is a shopping mall there is a Samsung shop, of course, unofficial there is an Apple shop. let’s take a look you need to understand that it’s not a real Apple shop

I mean all the devices are real but Apple doesn’t have anything to do with that if the sanctions are ever lifted and Apple comes here they don’t need to do anything they’re already here this is an expensive shopping mall. it’s vital to take a look

At the brands there are Guerlain, Lancome, Clearance, Yve Saint Laurent of course they don’t know that their products are being sold in Iran maybe they do though. let’s take a look at the clothes shop the majority of brands are local. there’s some Soho

There are many local brands the clothes are most likely being made in China but there are many factories here in Iran what about foreign Brands… there is Springfield, Mango Etc but the majority of shops are local whose clothes are somehow like the Western ones

You can easily find something to replace Zara but it won’t be possible to replace Dolce & Gabbana or Armani there are no such brands but there still are normal clothes but if you are a rich man you will most likely fly

To buy those things in Turkey or in the Emirates shopping tours are also popular there. it is told that Iranians are going back to Iran with many bags filled with clothes from Turkey or from the Emirates

Of course there are very few people who can afford that there aren’t many shopping malls in Iran we are now in a rich district, in the capital so everything is simpler here [Irina] you can get everything here in Iran

You can order something in Azerbaijan or in Turkey and get it delivered here so is it possible to order something from the latest Armani collection? – those Iranians who can afford that but can’t fly abroad ask buyers to do that

This is their job: to fly there, buy things, go back and hand them to you I was also told that there were many fakes we even made a video about such fake brand things it’s not Abibas it’s Adidas but it’s not the real Adidas

We’ve got such stuff too and locals who want to wear those things know where to buy them it’s similar to Russia I think it will continue being similar [Pivovarov] What is Iran doing now to bypass sanctions? What’s about cryptocurrency and contraband?

We’ve got all that and also many other things also we’ve got a very simple scheme concerning oil: the tanker leaves Iran turns the transponder off somewhere in the sea or just sails completely without it transfers the oil to the other tanker

And this tanker enters Chinese Waters and sells it as a Malaysian or even Belirussian but not Iranian “is it Iran or Iraq?” question is actually like a meme for us and sometimes those who fill up the export documents change n to q in the name of our country

And they sell oil as an Iraq oil there was a very famous story with cryptocurrency At some point in Iran it was not so long ago it happened somewhere in 2017-2018 Iran realized that cryptocurrency was lit

The country realized that it would be a bargain for it and people became mining cryptocurrency the statistics show that 5% of all of the bitcoins are being mined in Iran the main thing you need for mining is electricity

And the electricity in Iran costs practically nothing Moreover, we’ve got special types of buildings and organizations who aren’t obliged to pay any taxes like mosques which don’t pay for electricity and of course there were some really smart people

Who actually thought about building mining farms in mosques there are photos of mining farms in mosques so that was the thing back then – so the electricity is nearly free because it is being dotated? – yes

Yes, In Iran we’ve got an Islamic socialism which is actually about dotations prices for oil water and other things including electricity are being lowered with some benefits the same thing happens to chicken

You can find both the dotated chicken and not dotated chicken when chicken food became more expensive Iran has been providing everything for chicken by themselves but the food is still foreign

There was a moment when the choice of groceries became less because of the sanctions and now you can’t choose everything you want to the product you want to buy is getting more and more expensive [Pivovarov] let’s take a cart

I see Dove, Signal toothpaste and Fairy so the situation is following: due to some strange logic some brands are represented here but those are most likely those who make their products here in factories or import it here

It’s really hard to say why one product is being imported and the other one isn’t I was explained that this code means that the product is imported from abroad the only beer you can buy is non-alcoholic; there is such a brand

It was expectable we’ve bought ourselves something for dinner to eat in conclusion, there is no deficit in groceries It can be said straight away it’s not North Korea or the Soviet Union though you still pay attention to the lack of those brands

You see everyday in shops but you also pay attention to those brands we also see on the everyday basis but more rarely those brands which aren’t represented here are replaced with the implying ones for example Danette instead of Danone

In general, I would say that one third of all the products is the same as in the entire world and two-thirds are similar but not the same by the way, that’s our producer Katia in a hijab Every Woman in Iran must wear it so that’s why she bought it

I was not talking about the combination of this hijab with… what is that? I can’t believe my eyes! it’s Coke guys! did you know where it is being poured into bottles? here on Iranian factory! no way! Iran hadn’t always been under sanctions

More than 40 years ago it was one of the most dynamically developing World economics what’s more, it was developing towards the West because its main trade partner was America back then Iran was led by sheikh Mohammed Pekhlevi he was a politician of westernization and modernization

Which was called the white Revolution it was led towards American politics and American values the avenue which is now called the Islamic unity avenue was previously called the Kennedy avenue there were many reforms in the country

Many universities and schools were opened the land reform was also started but in conclusion the white Revolution turned out to be a complex of reforms for city elites and the most visually seen part of it

Which became a sensation in the world press was the European fashion entering such a conservative Islamic country as Iran there are many photos of Tehran girls in mini skirts and men in shorts there were many beauty salons opened

The western films were shown in cinemas people started listening to the western music actually there was a full westernization [Margoyev] those really famous memes are about beauties walking along Tehran streets in mini skirts I can imagine a situation where another woman in traditional Iranian clothes

Was going towards this girl and most likely it was common it was the Showcase of liberal Western values I’m not talking about some of the terminology now I’m just trying to tell everything as I see it so this showcase could be seen only in some districts of Tehran

The country was religious, deeply religious and all the social controversies which had appeared during Sheikh’s reign surfaced during the revolution [Pivovarov] this is ayatollah Khomeini’s portrait, they are being placed all over Iran he is a very important in our country’s history

By 1978 Shakh’s politics and The White Revolution had already come to the ending point on the one hand it was its peak but on the other hand everything became worse pro-western reforms and westernization led by Shakh weren’t really welcomed here because the country is Islamic and conservative

Many of the clerics began opposing those reforms because they are actual influencers on the other hand not many people gained a benefit from this white Revolution in an economical way because poor people were massively moving to the cities and no social programs were created

The lumpenisation became going Faster and Faster and the poor people didn’t really like what was going on and in 1979 the revolution nearly happened and its leader and its inspiration was ayatollah Rukholla Khomeini at this time he was exiled and ruled the revolution from Abroad

He spent 13 years in Iraq and and during the last year before the Revolution he had been living in France and was ruling the protestants on the phone there are many videos of him entering Tehran and being saluted by the folk

[Pivovarov] when the revolution happened in 1979 there was a referendum – yes and 99,3% of Iranian Nation decided to Proclaim Iran an Islamic Republic in Russia we aren’t really used to trusting such kinds of numbers as I remember the Sheikh’s program

Was also led through such kind of an event and there was the same number of those who were for the white Revolution so that’s some kind of tradition it was a greeting to the previous ruler [Pivovarov] so Iran became an Islamic Republic

And fundamental reforms were organised there were no Western things anymore, the Western business was kicked out from the country the harsh Islamic laws became official, women’s rights became really Limited the Western fashion and everything that was flourishing before the Revolution was gone

Universities and schools also were closed 423 00:30:34,520 –> 00:30:37,253 we all understand what an attack on economics it was but Khomeini didn’t keep it a secret that it was a secondary problem for him he said: “we made an Islamic revolution

Not for thinking about economics” so the limit was 1979, after this year had passed everything became different the economical change was so great that it could be seen judging by the statistics collected in the first years after the revolution

In 1978-79 this was a fall of 10% of GDP. That is, it falls by minus 10, it has negative growth. The next year – an almost 30% drop in GDP. [Pivovarov] did Khomeini, having come to power, deploy repressions?

It would be difficult to imagine the situation in which you had a revolution Where completely multidirectional forces were taking part There were also communists, there were leftist radicals who were much more radical than the communists. On the other side there were clergy and Khomeini.

This was the power project that Khomeini came up with about 10 years before that while he was giving a course of lectures at the Madrasah in Iraq About how the power in the Islamic country should be arranged and he began promoting this idea

And all of those who were against it even those who are from the clergy were affected with pressure or even repressions and the fight against those people continued in the first years after the revolution [Pivovarov] not long after Khomeini became the ruler of the country

The bloody Iran-Iraq war happened it was one of the longest wars in the 20th century and it was also very cruel it is estimated that nearly two million people from both sides had died in this conflict Iran was just defending

Sadam Hussein began it who thought that the Iranian Army was really weak because of the repressions and he wanted to capture the territories which were bringing Iran oil what is important is that Hussein was supported by the USSR the USA and the whole sunni muslim world

Which was really afraid of the Shiit revolution coming from Iran to their countries Iran won and Khomeini’s regime became even stronger but we all know that that war was a very serious attack on Iranian economics though the society gathered around its religious leader

Since then you can see portraits of such shakhids all over Iran those are the heroes who died in this war In Russia we are used to think that shakhid means terrorist this word means a martyr

Who died for the right thing and this case this is defending their motherland [Margoyev] half a million Iranians died while the total number of Iranians was 60 million back then now 84 million people live in Iran so they literally lost more than a percent of Iranians

Every 100th person died moreover, the number of injured warriors was also really big practically every single family in Iran had at least one man injured both physically and mentally of course for them it is like the Great Patriotic War for us

– let’s talk about the sanctions why are they being put on Iran in the beginning the USA didn’t really want to put sanctions on Iran but the Iranians have been keeping 52 American diplomats as hostages for 444 days

Before they managed to come to an agreement with the Americans [Pivovarov] this is the Museum of American Espionage the former American embassy. here the story of Iranian sanctions begins. it was November 1979 the crowd broke into the embassy and all the diplomats became hostages

Iran demanded the States to deport the refugee sheikh Pekhlevi back to Iran 487 00:34:29,434 –> 00:34:33,393 the USA of course refused and then those 52 diplomats stayed hostages for 444 days Americans try to liberate them using Brute Force

There was a special military operation organized, it failed after that the really long negotiations were held the hostages were complaining about their really bad conditions in conclusion, they were released and since that the history of sanctions became America declared an embargo on Iranian oil

And on importing all kinds of products excluding first need products in Iran America froze 12 billion dollars on Iranian foreign accounts it’s somehow similar to the current situation for all this time this Embassy has been remaining a museum the graffiti on the walls are made white on purpose

Because there are some boot marks and something yellow… because people come here punch the walls with their boots and urinate because they are showing their attitude and it’s really acceptable here there are anti-American manifestations being organized here near the embassy

And the day of breaking into this Embassy is now a holiday 505 00:35:59,204 –> 00:36:06,844 it’s really easy to count. it happened in 1979 and the sanctions have been on Iran for 43 years

[Margoyev] it’s important to understand that until 1996 American businessmen were allowed to trade the Iranian oil if it wasn’t imported in the USA themselves the option of buying and reselling Iranian oil on the world market was available for all businessmen including American

But then the political discussion in the USA about the steps considering Iran became harsher then the sanctional Act of 1996 happened and then there was a famous speech by George Bush jr. about the axis of evil “the countries like that and their terrorist allies

Are representing the axis of Evil” and the president announced the new big war on the Middle East as a response for the terroristic attack on 11th of September – and Iran was also included in this axis – yes it was

There were some scenarios of military operations being held in Iran and Iranians understood that the conditions became worse And new sanctions were being put and when did the European Union and the United Nations join this was the matter of Iran’s nuclear program

It is said that in 2002 Iranian oppositions who were abroad published some photos as a proof that Iran was creating some new nuclear objects not declaring them in IAEA in the International atomic energy agency

And Iran was said to be constructing the secret part of their peaceful Atomic program and why are you saying oppositionists being not really certain because it’s really tough to imagine oppositionists having space cameras in 2002 those were most likely intelligence agencies I think everything was done through them

The USA were the most irritated and untrusting country because they are still considering Iran as a regional threat for them and for their allies they required that Iran stopped their nuclear program for 10 years and why would Iran do that?

Iranians claimed that they would continue developing their nuclear program and continue being partners with IAEA don’t require from us more than you require from every other country which is doing the same nuclear program actually Iran had a right to do that

Because of the USA with the support of Russia China and other members of the UN Security Council the new sanctions the international sanctions were put on Iran so that the country would stop its nuclear activity and that actually worked – what year was it?

It was 2006. by the time of 2012 other countries had already decided that they needed to press on Iran’s economics as much as possible 551 00:38:48,544 –> 00:38:52,336 they switched Iran off from SWIFT

All International transactions were looking like that: you either took many cases with money with you or create Iranian firms abroad in the Emirates in Turkey and arrange all of the economical affairs through them then the oil embargo came the aviation had already been under sanctions

And this complex of sanctions led to inflation rising up to 40% a year and what did the break between sanctions look like? it was 2015 when Obama said that it was all good that he had made arrangements with Iran

That they had many other problems and that those problems needed to be solved in other ways including sanctions because not all sanctions were lifted the toughest ones against Iran’s oil industry banks etc were, and businessmen having been living in rooms of Tehran hotels were waiting

For the first one of them to get a part of Iranian market the contracts were massively signed the Western business actually moved into Tehran The temporary relaxation happened because the government wanted to open the country when the sanctions were lifted in 2015

People went on the streets they were crying and screaming all night The Barbershops, cafes, bars and coffee shops started opening in 3 years Tehran had completely changed you’ve been an ambassador here for 11 years – if you want to be more accurate then it’s 10,5

You have seen the period of 2015-2016 when the American sanctions were lifted from Iran – what do you mean? – when the nuclear treaty with signed the sanctions were partly lifted and how did the people meet this announcement?

I heard people were extremely happy – yes they were Zarifa – back then he was a minister of foreign affairs was met with a real joy when he was returning to Tehran he was compared to the great Iranian politician Amir Kabir the new possibilities in relationships

With the European countries, with Japan and with Korea became clear well, the country became open, it was 2015-2016 the day a nuclear treaty was signed happened in the January of 2016 well, the sanctions were lifted. in November 2016 Trump won the elections and said this

“the nuclear treaty was the worst mistake of the previous administration” – why would he say that? – because Trump is one of those USA maximalists who consider Iran one of their worst enemies in the region

It isn’t enough for them to solve this current problem in our relationships they need to solve every single one I’ve got an interesting detail about this nuclear treaty do you want to know the attitudes to this treaty

After Trump had said it wasn’t legit after 2 years of its successful existence? there is graffiti on the walls of the former American embassy in this graffiti the negotiations between Iran and the USA about this nuclear treaty are shown

This is an Iranian Diplomat in the green tuxedo and this is the American diplomat who is also wearing a tuxedo but there is a military uniform under it when Trump had put the sanctions on Iran again were Iranians disappointed?

Yes they were and they weren’t really disappointed in Trump but they were disappointed and those people who were saying that they would be partners with the West they were disappointed in the president Rukhani – yes

So the government didn’t manage to organize it and Rukhani lost the next elections yes so now the problem is in Iran on the next elections not only Rukhani but the whole liberal wing hadn’t only lost but hadn’t been allowed to take part in the elections

Just because they weren’t supported by anyone so it’s just possible to say that Iranians want changes and they want normal relationships with the remaining countries Because they don’t believe those politicians who were previously saying to them that everything would be normal anymore

Some people from the Iranian government don’t keep it a secret 620 00:42:55,115 –> 00:42:58,492 that there is a pro-western lobby which is really influential this lobby consists of the people who were educated in the West there are some intellectuals that have Western passports

Or a permission to live in the West they were being educated there for many years of course this is an important thing to take into consideration aren’t they considered the fifth column here? no they aren’t there are heated political arguments between so-called conservatives and reformators

In the Congress there is an opposition which is against renovating the nuclear treaty with Iran Biden has decided that no gestures of good will will be shown towards Iran because why would they spend their social and political resources to such a doubtful initiative

As a gesture of good will towards Iran? what had Iran managed to do for 2 years when the sanctions were lifted by Obama? we managed to decrease the inflation during Rukhani’s reign we managed to decrease it from 40% to 9-15%

We got a break but the most important thing is that we gained hope that the conditions in the country will normalize and normal trades will be renovated and that Iran’s reputation will be far from for example North Korean one which is an outsider

Some aviation companies have managed to buy European planes no they didn’t, they had signed some papers but in fact they were made to stop all the contracts and they didn’t renovate their planes no Boeings were delivered here there were 3 new Airbuses

ATR company managed to import 13 planes and that’s the best we’ve got that’s all the planes were imported but they are not being repaired there are many Old planes in Iran they can’t fly anymore and they are used

For spare parts – yes, they take those parts and use them for other planes I think the situation is a disturbing one is it necessary to take parts from one plane to build others and to provide other planes with those spare parts? yes, usually it is necessary

But it’s unlikely to happen that the details of one plane are fully used in the other plane but sometimes we do it partly If the plane cannot be longer used it’s details are being installed into the other plane [Pivovarov] judging by certain signs, the Russian aviation companies

Are also planning to do so “Pobeda” recently said that the company is reducing the amount of their planes twice having explained that the amount of plains available for flight is needed to be decreased so that there is no need of spare parts of all the planes in the future

The planes here are… actually the plains here or the same as in the whole world but they are much older there are mostly Boeings Airbuses Bombardiers etc but most planes are… the majority of estimates are being calculated

Judging by the average age of the plane here approximately it’s 25 years it depends on the company it could be twenty and it could be 30 but the majority of the planes are really old now the sanctions were put on Russia

Concerning the import of the equipment for quarrying and recycling oil the same thing had happened to Iran what has happened to this area while being under sanctions this thing has both advantages and disadvantages on the one side that helped us produce more oil

On the other side the quality of the product is really doubtful let’s talk about petrol. you can see it in Tehran when the sanctions were put on Iran and when the country was made to parade itself all the petrol a smog started appearing in the city

It’s because the petrol’s quality is really low it’s one of the biggest Iranian ecological problems [Farid] the petrol in Iran is actually cheap it’s cheaper than in most countries public transport isn’t really popular in Iran it’s not developed

Everybody is trying to buy their own car during the holidays there are no traffic jams in the city but during the average day all streets are filled with cars what do you think about the price of petrol? Is it high or is it low?

– it’s normal – isn’t it high for you? – no it’s not – what about its quality? its quality isn’t really high. this Petrol isn’t really good and it pollutes the air [Margoyev] there is a modernization for every single industry branch needed

Oil industry actually feeds Iran half of Iranian budget is based on oil industry Iran has made a big progress in developing an oil export but there are always new technologies required the equipment is getting old there are many explosions on Iranian factories

Nobody’s sure whether explosions are diversions or the equipment is actually old and needs to be changed we know that Europe is taking into consideration the possibility of giving up Russian oil the USA have already announced that are they able to switch to Iranian oil?

Having lifted all the sanctions and replacing the Russian oil with Iranian one if we are looking at this problem globally if you are managing swapping trades the Iranian oil could somehow replace the Russian one on the world market if the Russian oil is under total embargo

From eastern countries but it’s really important to mention that with our help Iran is able to enter the world oil Market and Russia is still supporting Iran in the aspect of lifting the sanctions because it has been our position for decades

[Pivovarov] it is a bit off the topic but I want to tell you a really important story about historical interpretations and the variety of them this is the famous stairs and maybe you will recognize them here in 1943 the Tehran conference was held

It was a meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill this is an iconic photo of course you all know it there was a famous Soviet movie about this conference which was called “Tehran-43” and its interpretation was quite clear: it was a step to the Great Victory

To the opening of the second frontline, this conference is constantly being remembered together with the battle of Stalingrad, the battle of Kursk etc. The Iranian attitude to this conference is completely the opposite last year when the Russian Ambassador took a photo

With the British ambassador on those stairs in chairs which were put here just like the chairs of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill there was a great scandal the Russian Ambassador was even called to come to the Iranian MIA why because 1943 reminds Iranians about the occupation

Because back then the northern part of Iran was occupied by Russian troops and the southern part of the country was occupied by British troops and Iranians think of the time as a really tough period of history about the imperialism about foreign countries conquering their territories

People also remember about the Turkmenchay treaty which was signed in 19th century and this treaty is also considered Russian imperialist action this is the difference between interpretations we were explained that it is impossible to come to a consensus

We’ve got a potential and we hope that the sanctions which were put on Russia will open new possibilities for working with Iran and give us a further impulse Iran still hopes that the sanctions will be lifted we see that as a political consensus

No matter which forses conservative or non-conservative Or the Reformators everyone’s telling that the sanctions need to be lifted because it’s impossible to develop a country while being under them [Pivovarov] this is Sepah bank, the Iranian bank with the most sanctions put on it

Why did that happen that this Bank was put under as many sanctions as possible? because this bank in fact belongs to the corpse of defending the islamic Revolution this is the most powerful Iranian intelligence agency

If you want to understand what it is you need to combine MIA, FSS, Center for combating Extremism and a bit of National Guard and that will be the corpse of Defending the Islamic Revolution which appeared not long after the revolution itself

And is being controlled by the spiritual leader himself it’ll be appropriate to say some words about Iranian political system as I’ve already set the main person in the country is not the president but the religious leader rakhbar, there have been two of them

Since 1979 when the Islamic revolution happened ayatollah Khomeini the founder of the modern Iran and Ali Hamenei who has been running the country since 1989 nevertheless in Iran there are presidential elections which are quite transparent for us

The elected president rules for 4 years and is able to be elected only for two times I can say the Islamic Republic understands that it’s really important that Iranians take part in political processes the government even induces leniency to make every election legit

I’ve heard that the ministry of internal affairs puts a stamp and Iranian analog of an inner passport that a citizen has voted no matter for which candidate and the stamp may or may not help the citizen to find a job

Yes but judging by the leniency we can see that the majority of people doesn’t vote in the elections just because they’re said to if there is an intrigue in the elections people come and vote if there isn’t they don’t the last elections didn’t contain any intrigue

The strong candidates from the reformators, from the alternative party or from the conservative party weren’t allowed to take part in the elections in conclusion, the leniency was the lowest in history, it was no more than 40% now the president is Raisi and he’s considered a conservative

As a religious leader rakhbar is able to change every decision of every branch of power: legislative, executive and judicial but the current rahbar Ali Hamenei does that really rare it is ironical that in the rating of world democracies which is created by V-Dem agency

Iran is on 140th place while Russia is on 151st of course every rating is relational but that’s a very interesting detail advocacy groups are raising awareness about recent protests in Iran which are being suppressed. What protests are they talking about?

The protests… you better call them national waves of protests part of them started because the prices for basic groceries became growing but the loudest protests if we can use this word in correlation with the protests the biggest protests which had ever happened in Iran

Started because of the raising prices for petrol the government decided that they needed to cut off some oil subsidies and to raise the petrol prices in one day so what? – people went to street protests because it’s the matter of the whole country’s concern

And how did it all end? – the government decided to cut off the internet and the whole country for approximately a week and what happened during this time? – during this time there were many fights with the police, there were mass provocations

And there were different estimates on how many people died the government admitted that there were 300 people killed during the great protest which lasted a week [Pivovarov] by the way Iran was one of the first Middle East countries

Which became connected to the internet but the majority of the services we’re used to – and I’m not talking about Eastern news portals – are of course banned here the only social networks which are available are Instagram and WhatsApp Telegram is a phenomenon here Telegram’s biggest success

Happened here 45 million of Telegram users are Iranian while the population of Iran is 84 million how do Iranians use Telegram of course via VPN the Government tried to ban it in 2018 for the first time it happened the same time when the battle of Roskomnadzor

And Telegram was taking place in Russia you all remember how it turned out to be in Iran everything was the same [Smagin] Iranians aren’t prohibited to use banned social networks you can use them peacefully, nobody tries to stop you

The limitations are being created so that Iranians use them less but nobody prohibits the use of them Moreover, we know some examples of Iranian politicians managing their social networks accounts really successfully for instance, the Instagram of our religious leader and the Instagram of Rukhani

Were one of the top popular Instagram accounts of all politicians in the world and now we’re going to show you a very important experiment if you remember recently we uploaded a video about banning YouTube and I was really interested in how banned YouTube

Works via VPN because everybody tells different things let’s take a look at this together because we are filming an appropriate video right now we are now connected to the home Wi-Fi but we’re also connected to the VPN service and as you can see everything works normally

But if I turn the home Wi-Fi off Bad here one I am there is only a 3G connection so the quality will be worse but in the bigger part of Iran there is LTE YouTube also works via VPN of course Iran has something like Rutube

It is called Apparat so the word apparatchik has a completely different meaning here I would be an apparatchik in Iran it means that I would be a content maker whose content would be posted on Apparat there is a company called Cinematicket which cells cinema tickets

The most interesting brand is Filmo. It is Iranian Netflix all of that belongs to one company we came to have a chat to them and to understand how everything works [Pivovarov] Mohammad, how many users does Apparat have? approximately 62 million

And are all of them located in Iran? – they are farsi speaking foreigners and Iranians you are selling ads on Apparat just like on YouTube? is it possible for the content makers to get money for it? yes, both Apparat and Youtube pay their creators

From the money that those companies earned so that those content makers create new content now we’ve got more than 2,000 channels who are producing content professionally or half professionally and we pay them do you consider YouTube concurrent? sort of, but in reality 10 years ago

When we started working VPN technologies weren’t really so sophisticated so we had a possibility to actually be the monopolists in the country of course if YouTube was available in Iran just like it is available in Germany or in France

We wouldn’t even try but such a possibility appeared and we decided to use it and we managed to develop our platform how many followers do top bloggers have? Several hundred thousands – how much can they earn? there are creators who own approximately 25-30 million tumans a year

I wanted to ask you about Filmo. this is an alternative to Netflix, right? Yes – what movies can you watch there? only Iranian or foreign too? No, there are different films, there are movies from many countries Korea, Turkey, Arabian countries, the USA

There are some countries left who sell their content to Iran sanctions are not the problem for them but the majority of users who like Filmo buy Iranian movies and series because Iran has a really rich culture and Cinema industry which has many fans these photos inspire us

The majority of guys who work here are busy making content you like Batman – Russians also like that kind of movies There are no Iranian films – yes, there are none [Pivovarov] how common piracy services are?

Iran didn’t sign the Bern convention 902 01:00:42,044 –> 01:00:44,749 so there is piracy and are those services your concurrents? of course our content is censored and passes to all law requirements many people want to watch foreign content without any censorship though

So we don’t have anything in common if somebody wants to find that content they will always find it I heard there was a cyber police and the Higher counselor of cyberspace yes there is a special structure which was created

So that the internet and the social networks are controlled it is something like Roskomnadzor? – yeah if you want to make a long story short it started its Activity when all those social networks weren’t really mainstream the area of its actions also includes banning things

Yeah it works somehow like that in Iran this is less transparent Clubhouse became popular in Iran recently it was a new unbanned platform and then it got banned and I remember that there was a situation where every Security Department

Was denying them that it was them they were saying “it wasn’t us, we didn’t do that, it wasn’t our order” and nobody wanted to take the political responsibility for that, they just wanted to give it a try, to test in Russia this is done much easier

[Pivovarov] do you remember our video about our reality under sanctions? the experts’ expectations are that instead of car brands which are no longer in Russia there will be many Chinese cars it’ll be interesting for me to see how is it going in Iran

If we’re talking about this aspect… there are many Chinese cars they aren’t on the 1st place though there are also many Iranian cars the most popular brands are Iran Khodro and Saipa they are being produced here and they are the cheapest ones if you look at other cars

You can also see two French brands: Renault and Peugeot this is Renault and this is Peugeot why did it happen? in the 90s when America had already put the sanctions on Iran and the EU hadn’t some French companies built their factories in Iran

Then the French left Iran, they took the license but nobody wanted to stop the work of those factories Peugeot and Renault models are from 90s and 00s are still produced there we are now in the northern Tehran

This is the richest District of the city 948 01:03:32,196 –> 01:03:34,627 you can see many Mercedes and Porsche cars parked here there is a Mitsubishi Pajero those cars aren’t imported here officially they are being imported from the UAE on the ferry through the Ormuz gulf

What is also important is that the tax on those cars is the same as the price of it so when somebody buys Mercedes here even not the coolest one then this guy is really rich and nobody doubts that

Among other businesses there is one connected to getting a taxi everything is also online. look at the sign behind me do you recognize the name? this is the “Maxim” taxi they entered Iranian market when Obama lifted sanctions a bit but the company didn’t really succeed

Soon after they started developing their business in Iran Trump put other sanctions on the country and the tough times came for them. let’s talk about that i’ll only say that our Russian company “Maxim” is one of the three most popular taxi services in Iran

Prior the sanctions were only against politicians and Swift system when Trump’s sanctions became directed to other people they made businesses including European ones leave Iranian market of course there was a problem with IT developers and the bigger part of our business was in danger

So we decided to leave the market what is now functioning in Iran is an independent company which doesn’t belong to us doesn’t follow our orders they work all by themselves if you didn’t put up with those sanctions which didn’t affect you juridically

Would there be any problems in other countries and even in Russia? the American companies act like that they think that if you are working in Iran it means that you support that country so you either put up with the situation and leave Iranian market

Or they stop working with you what could they do, for example? they could put some limitations on our app, they could ban it in Russia so your app could be deleted from the Russian App Store? – yes – it is a serious threat of course

Yes – do you have an app here? yes [Pivovarov] I have just figured that out I was trying to use an Iranian app for getting a taxi on my iPhone

You need to go to the browser and you need to find there an Iranian aggregator app called Sibapp and there are many services here and this is a web page you can get to in Safari and you can find here everything you need to

There are Bank apps there is an app which allows you to get a taxi you work in browser through this app but you can also attach a link to this web page on your iphone and it will become an icon on your home screen it won’t be an app

But it will look like one it’s complicated but it still functions how much does the average taxi drive cost? depends on a city if we’re talking about the capital then it will be approximately 10000 tumans so the average taxi drive costs 50 rubles

Wow! So taxi is as cheap as the public transport in Iran yes, kind of [Pivovarov] Look, you can rent a bike here the bikes themselves are Chinese but the sharing model is something like in Moscow or other European cities

To be honest when I got here I expected to see something else but there are many Eastern not values but models like bikesharing which are constantly invading Iran I swear I expected that the locals would be speaking English worse than they really are

For example the English level in Tehran is the same as in Moscow all the road signs and many shops’ names in the centre of the city are translated into English I can’t say that this society it’s absolutely intolerant to Eastern trends and influence

I don’t have such a feeling when I’m looking at the everyday life of those people 1021 01:08:22,202 –> 01:08:25,116 [Smagin] Iran is one of the places where the local medicine tourism is developed people from Iraq, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan come here

We’ve also got some tourists from Oman and the UAE there is a very developed plastic surgery industry yes, I’ve heard about it, I also heard that the nose job is really popular in Iran Iran is the country with one of the highest ratings of nose jobs done

I don’t know why Iranian women consider their noses not beautiful I really don’t know who said it to them Iranian women are really beautiful but they are really trying to fix their noses to make them like doll ones

And every single one of them is trying to create the same nose form when the tip of the nose is a bit turned up, I don’t know whether you can imagine it right now but it’ll look something like Michael Jackson’s

By the way, a done nose job is a sign of the wealth of your family some women put a special tape on their noses as if they have already got their nose jobs done though they haven’t

So is done to show the social status – yes to show that you’ve got money that you’re trendy and got your nose job done – Iran is a very cobservative country and we all know that but top and bottom surgeries are legal here

– yes. – And homosexualism is the thing you will be punished for – Yes you are correct – are these 2 things connected? – top and bottom surgeries were legalised by our spiritual leader and the founder of the Islamic republic Homeini several years before he died

There was a story that a man came to him and said that he was a true revolution’s servant and fully supported the Islamic republic But he also said that he felt like he was a women and he asked what should he do

And having searched through many books Ayatolla found out that islam doesn’t mention that problem He didn’t even know that there was such a problem He tried to answer the question and understood that nothing in Islam is really against it

So he made a law that made top and bottom surgery legalized Before that he made a law which allows contraception [Pivovarov] this is Tabiat bridge, the symbol of touristic Iran We are now and the Park of fire and water As you can see there are many people here

Because the long New Year holidays have ended recently Iran lives according to the Sun calendas It is told to be created by Omar Khayyam and this year the new century became 1401 now so Iran lives in the 15th century

It’s not some kind of a symbolism is just an interesting thing to know Tehran streets are empty now because and now we’re back to the matter of sanctions people here love traveling but because of the sanctions not everybody is really able to go abroad

The borders are open but everything is really expensive there so that’s why tourism in Iran is mostly inner, the main tourist destination for those who want to spend time on the beach on New Year holidays for a beneficial price is Kish island it’s on the Persian gulf

It is located right towards Dubai it’s not like Dubai here on this island but locals find it normal they also actively try to invite more foreigners there and it’s clear that because of COVID-19 everything became more complicated but still

It is also interesting to know that the paper visas were recently changed to electronic ones Iranians don’t even put a stamp on your passport when you’re crossing the border because having this stamp in your passport might bring you some trouble

For example when you’re going to the USA or, what’s more important, to Israel and the Iranian government decided that those troubles aren’t really needed so that’s why they have an electronic Visa so that there are no signs of you having been to Iran

– are there many tourists in Iran now? there are around 400-500,000 a year and from Europe too? – yes from Europe too we have tourists from Germany, Spain, Italy and France those are the countries where the most tourists come from who are they, mostly elderly people?

The majority of them are elderly it was so several years ago but for the past six or seven years

More younger people visit Iran, they are, like, average tourists with backpacks who know everything 1096 01:12:52,994 –> 01:12:59,458 and they come here because we have really good and cheap tourist service first of all, Aeroflot announced

That they continue flying from Russia to Iran and back I wasn’t expecting many tourists to come and I still don’t expect them I am being honest with tourists when I’m saying that Russians need to obey some restrictions while visiting Iran

And the most important one is dress code for women especially in the hottest regions yeah for example on a Persian Gulf that’s right – and the second restriction is about alcohol you can’t drink even a glass of beer. Everything is banned. It’s for real

[Pivovarov] We were invited to visit a boutique hotel in Tehran there are such hotels too. Their golden age was in 2015-2016 after the nuclear agreement was signed and the sanctions were lifted before Trump put them on again so there were many Europeans

And now everything’s fully booked here because Iranians are celebrating New Year

But the period of 2015-2016 is still remembered as the best time here 1112 01:14:06,786 –> 01:14:10,749 how many guests do you have? – now we have got 22 rooms where 45 people can live where are your guests mostly from? they are mostly Iranians

But we still have some European guests we’ve got practically no Russian tourists a night in this room costs $100 it is said to be a bit cheaper now, something about 6000 roubles (60 dollars) is the toilet here Iranian? no, it is the average one

There is such a thing that the Iranian toilet is just a hole in the floor but here everything is normal how are sanctions affecting your job? I’ve got my own tourist firm and I’ve been working in the Iranian tourism area for many years

The majority of tourists who are staying at our place pay cash the other part of them pays a part of money in advance through those who exchange currency we had some difficulties with that prior but now everything is fine does booking.com work in Iran?

No it had been before 2018 in 2018 Trump had put new sanctions on us and Booking excluded Iranian hotels from its system so how do people know about you then? – we’ve got our website and we are able to post an advertisement on Google

We pay to the Google facilitator which posts an ad after that and how do you pay for an ad while being located in Iran – we use bank accounts of those people who are working in money exchange

Some of them have foreign bank accounts some of them have Iranian ones Those who are dealing with money exchange take money from us And send them to a foreign bank account We pay from here but our money go straight to Google

From the Netherlands for example and then the ad is working – are you waiting for sanctions to be cancelled? will it be profitable for your business? – of course, of course, it’s undoubtful the sanctions paralyzed us we’re now like soldiers without any weapons

We have got concurrents like Turkey, Dubai. Malaysia and other countries And they are in a better situation because the most needed instruments for every business are money and money transactions If you get no instrument for sending money to someone else you can’t do anything at all

As you already know there are some agreements being made right now in Vienna Every single time we hear that there might be some treaty signed the dollar falls and every single time it is sad that this aspect is unclear the dollar rises It confuses everyone

[Margoyev] even though national dignity is a really important thing for the Iranian Nation because the whole Islamic revolution happened because Iran wanted to fight the discrimination and dependence which this country had been experiencing for the past century

It was important for them that Iran was respected as a state and as an independent country of the Near East and the Middle East But an average person no matter where they live in Tehran or in Kuma

In the city or in a suburban or rural area still needs to buy food for his family I’d say that more and more people in Iran are wanting something to be changed Since the very beginning since the sanctions were put on Iran Iranians have been thinking of it

As a pressure of the West it was common especially when Akhmadinezhada was running the country And there were many brave statements that the country would bypass everything But the further it got the more sanctions were put on them More and more Iranians started blaming their government

For the economical problems that they had and started asking them questions The only difference between us and the Russians who are just being put under sanctions is that we grew up living under many restrictions We’ll see nothing unusual in them We are used to them

Of course you’re in the last year especially when Donald Trump was a president the pressure on Iran became bigger And it became harder but the sanctions became a business for many people I mean that they make money on sanctions as I’ve already noticed some Iranians aren’t really interested

In not living under sanctions if we compare Iran to Russia Iranians didn’t get all those sanctions suddenly and they weren’t that shocked they have been receiving those sanctions gradually – yes, it was a long process

They are used to living under sanctions though those sanctions aren’t really that harsh What do you think: would Russia follow Iran in that way? I really want to believe that our economics is bigger, stronger and more resistant what I consider important for Russia in Iranian experience

Is the creative class of people which has appeared in our country because of the conditions we live in if those people decide to leave the country not for a month and not even to the time the war in Ukraine ends

If those people decide to leave Russia for good our economics will experience serious consequences this is what happened to Iran 84 million people live in Iran now the other Iranians are 4 million

You mean those who live abroad – yes, this the diaspora which left the country because of revolution and because of harsh economical consequences of it I really hope that won’t happen to Russia Our nation has been against those sanctions for a very long time

It is likely that after they are lifted the prices will lower and the trading will become open and it would be a really good news the life without sanctions will give a possibility to some technological companies to show themselves to the world. Iran has got many resources

Many talented people and technologies and they are really worth being presented to the other world There is a high chance that the sanctions put on Iran will be lifted and there is a mechanism which is quite clear and which can become possible

I’m not sure that that will be the same for Russia [Pivovarov] so guys, on our channel you draw every conclusion all by yourselves I guess we’ve shown enough so that you could do it I am able to notice that the matter of canceling sanctions,

Planning your life after sanctions being lifted hopes about how everything will change after sanctions will be lifted they are really an important trend in the society it’s a really important part of Iranian life and you can clearly feel it

The question is not how to survive under those sanctions Iran is a good example that it’s more than possible Everything can be done illegally, every single risky scheme can work out This is actually a country of risky schemes

You can unofficially import buy and use everything you want to You can spend your time in the internet via VPN It is possible to live normally in this comfortable city environment Though we would think that Tehran is completely uncomfortable. When you’re crossing the road

Nobody will let you get through and you need to try to sneak through all the cars But we all understand these are minor inconveniences compared to more global and important things Even though they’re really noticeable

What is it about the question is not about how long people can live under sanctions It is possible to live under them for a very long time it’s not about surviving physically The question is for what And I think that everyone should answer this question

According to their own opinion Just like everybody in Iran has been for years and decades So apparently we should do the same thing in Russia This was Redaktsiya. Leave your likes and comments there Subscribe to our channel if you haven’t done it yet, see you soon

редакция,пивоваров,алексей пивоваров,редакция пивоварова,иран,иран санкции 2022,иран санкции против россии,иран санкции как живут,иран санкции последствия,иран санкции,санкции против россии,санкции против россии сегодня,иран сегодня,иран и россия,иран и россия санкции