The other stuff, its there. The iran weve read about, heard about, seen in the news. But this . This i wasnt prepared for. I took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la anthony thank you. Merci. So, good to be here, finally. Its taken some time. Like, a lot of time. Like, 40 years, ive been trying. Finally tehran. City of nearly 8 million people. Capital of iran. This neighborhood feels kind of like there are neighborhoods in rome this feels a lot like. After all this time, i finally had my chance to see a country id heard so much about. The weathers nice too. I dont know what i was expecting, but its nice. A big blank spot on nearly every travelers resume. Merci. Delicious thank you. Arianne once upon a time there was an ancient kingdom where they found a lot of magical black stuff under the ground. But, two other kingdoms had the key to the magical black stuff, and when they wouldnt share, the people of the ancient kingdom got mad. They voted and their leader said, the magical black stuff is ours to keep. But, the other kingdoms were afraid of losing all of the magical black stuff so they gave money to some bad men to get rid of the leader. They put back in power another leader, and they gave him money, too to some he was a good king, but to others he could be very cruel. After many years, the people of the kingdom got mad, this time even madder, so they scared the king away forever. And then things started to get really messed up. Anthony okay, thats a simplistic and incomplete way to sum up the last hundred odd years of iranian history, but the point is there were a lot of issues of differing agendas leading up to the explosion of rage known as the iranian hostage crisis. Look, we know what iran the government does. George w. Bush famously called them part of the axis of evil. Their proxies in iraq have done american soldiers real harm. There is no doubt of this. But i hope i can be forgiven for finding these undeniable truths hard to reconcile with how were treated on the streets everywhere we go. So forget about the politics if you can for a moment. How about the food . The food here is amazing. Chelo kebab as close as you get to a national dish, and the king of kebabs. Ground lamb with spices, a good place to start. Anthony so what do you guys do for a living . Ali i export nuts. Mahdi im a curator of contemporary art. Anthony which is an exploding scene here . Ali iranian country have three different cultures. Western culture, iranian, and islamic culture. Mahdi its really a progress. It has changed a lot during the last decades. Anthony yeah. Oh mahdi so this is the actual menu. Anthony right. Mahdi i would recommend you to try this one. Ali this one. Mahdi and this one. And this one. Anthony okay. Ali why not . Anthony chelo kebab wouldnt be complete without persian rice. Fluffy, longgrained, and perfectly seasoned with saffron, the rice in this country is like nothing youve ever had. Mahdi so tony, first you should take the butter, and put it on your rice. Bon appetit anthony bon appetit. This is good. Ali its good mahdi its very good, yeah. Anthony it was a hopeful time when i arrived in iran. A window had opened. There had been a slight loosening of restrictions since the election of president hassan rouhani, and there was optimism for a deal that could lead to an easing of crippling economic sanctions imposed because of irans continued nuclear program. Trade restrictions that have been very, very difficult for everyone. But theres a push happening between opposing factions in the government. On one hand, iranians are the descendants of ancient persia, an empire of poetry, flowers, a highly influential culture that goes back thousands of years. But the ruling clerical and military class are, at best, ambivalent; at worst, actively hostile to much of that tradition. Severe religious based restrictions of speech, dress, behavior were ushered in by the rise of the ayatollah during the 1979 islamic revolution. Anthony so, how does one have fun in iran these days . This is a line that is constantly being tested. Alcohol is, of course, forbidden. You can get away with listening to rock or rap. Sort of. Sometimes. But you cannot yourself rock. Or be seen to visibly rock. Not everyone in iran is delighted with what their country has become since the revolution, but even insinuating discontent can have consequences. Protestors, dissidents, journalists, have been simply disappeared into the maw of the National Security system. Todd what . Its some military place. Dont shoot, please. Todd yeah. Local crew let us cross the jason we are in the northernmost spit of land in tehran. Up here, in darband, uh, the road stops and it gets really steep. A place for iranians to escape the heat, escape the pollution, and have a kebab and a shisha, and just kind of unwind. As print journalists, our jobs difficult, but its also kind of easy cause theres so much to write about. You know . Its, it, the difficult part is convincing people on the other side of the world that, that what were telling you, were seeing in front of our eyes, is actually there. When you walk down the street you see a different side of things. People are proud; the culture is vibrant. People have a lot to say. Anthony Jason Rezaian is the Washington Post correspondent for iran. Yeganeh, his wife and a fellow journalist, works for the uaebased newspaper the national. Jason is iranianamerican. Yeganeh is a full iranian citizen. This is their city, tehran. The official attitude towards fun in general seems to be ever shifting. How is fun even a good idea . Theres a lot of security, a lot of rules. A lot of people in place to make sure you do the right thing, not do the wrong thing. But a lot of push and pull. A lot of give and take. When i first started coming here, you wouldnt hear pop music in a, in a restaurant, or a anthony right. Yeganeh its everywhere now. Jason now its everywhere. Yeganeh we have police, they arrest girls, or women, for having bad hijab or not being covered enough. But, its not that we live with the police in our head, you know . Anthony you know, one of the first things that people will say, when you say, well, im going to iran. Oh youre but dont they make women do this, this and this. Jason yeah. Yeganeh mmm. Anthony actually, not so much. Jason yeah. Anthony not as much as our jason friends. Anthony friends. Anthony compare and contrast, women arent allowed to drive in saudi arabia. Yeganeh thats right. Or vote. Anthony uh, or vote. You can drive . You can vote . Yeganeh yeah, of course anthony can you open a business . Yeganeh of course. My sister is an accountant. She has her own company. Girls are allowed to do almost everything, uh, except we want to go and watch football, which is, like anthony cant go watch football . Yeganeh we cannot. Anthony womens issues are often at the spear point of change or possible change here. On one hand, prevailing conservative attitudes demand certain things. On the other hand, iranian women are famously assertive, opinionated. Its a striking difference from almost everywhere else in the region. Anthony so why are we so friendly with the saudis again . Jason thats a great question. Its a really good question. Yeganeh im happy that you asked the question. Anthony do you like it . Youre happy here . Jason look, im at a point now, after five years, where, uh, i miss certain things about home. I miss my buddies. I miss, uh, burritos. I miss having certain beverages with my buddies and burritos, and certain types of establishments. Um, but i love it. I love it, and i hate it. You know . But, its home. Its become home. Anthony are you optimistic about the future . Yeganeh yeah. Especially if this nuclear deal finally happens, um, yeah. Very much, actually. Anthony despite the hopeful nature of our conversation, six weeks after the filming of this episode, jason and yeganeh were mysterious arrested and detained by the police. Sadly, in iran, this sort of thing is not an isolated incident. The holidays are here and so is tmobiles newest, most powerful signal. And we want to keep you connected to those you love, with the new iphone 11. So tmobile is giving you an iphone 11 on us for each new line of unlimited. For yourself, or up to a family of four. Keep your family connected, and hurry into tmobile today, to get up to four iphone 11s on us. Only at tmobile. You wanna see something thatamazing . Ing. Go to hilton instead of a travel site and youll experience a whole new range of emotions like. The relaxing feeling of knowing youre getting the best price. Thesell work. The utter delight of free wifi. Oh man this is the best part. Isnt that you . Yeah. And the magic power of unlocking your room with your phone. I can read minds too. Really . Book at hilton. Com. If you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25 off that stay. Expect better. Expect hilton. The magic moment. Congress really democratized wall street. I wanted to have a firm that wanted to get everybody in. Because people couldnt access wall street. We wanted to be agents of change. For the better. [ car horns ] anthony what is okay to film in iran and what is not . Whats okay for the friendly, to us at least, ministry of guidance might not be okay at all for the basij, essentially roving, young religious militias. Despite all permits and paperwork being in order, were detained for several hours. This sort of harassment is a daily part of life for iranians. Crew member just turn if off right now. People bye, bye, bye. Bye, bye. Bye, bye. Anthony whoa, im so glad to be here, thank you hello hi anthony good to meet you. Man in stripes enjoy, enjoy. Anthony people have been ridiculously nice to us. Arent you guys supposed to be the axis of evil . Farrokh you, youre absolutely right. We are demonized by the media outside. You show blackandwhite, people are demonstrating and killing and bombing and this and that and you see it in this and that. But you never talk about the real people who are actually living peacefully inside the country, you know . Because eventually, in the future of the world, we and americans have a very special place in this middle east. You cannot play a game without considering iran as a friend. Anthony one of farrokhs many passions is ancient persia, culinary history in particular, and hes writing a book on the subject. Anthony how do you pronounce the specialty here, dizi . Farrokh what they serve is called dizi. Which, actually, is the name of the pot. Anthony thats right, its a, like, an earthenware farrokh yeah, earthenware. Anthony right. Farrokh this is one of the early dishes of human kind. It goes back through mesopotamia six thousand years ago. Anthony potato, chickpeas, water, lamb cooked together. Add a little fat, mash it up with potatoes and chickpeas. Thats good. What do iranians want to eat today . Its a homecooking culture. I mean farrokh yes. We didnt have the culture of eating out. This is a culture of secret foods in the house. Things which are unheard of. Its not in the book. Secrets. Anthony thats really interesting. Farrokh lot of secrets. Anthony mmhm. Maeimeh have you ever tried traditional iranian food . Anthony uh, its difficult, because everybody says the great food of iran is cooked in peoples homes. Maeimeh yes. Anthony this is a land of secret recipes, passed down within families like treasured possessions. Bijan mr. Tony, please. Anthony beautiful spread of food. Bijan shes my wife, and i am a really lucky man. She is a very good cook. Anthony bijan, like so many other iranians ive met, has been kind enough to invite me to his home. Maeimeh this is milk soup. Milkandchicken soup. Anthony oh, its really good. Maeimeh my mom said that iranian people loves guests, and they will never get tired if the guest likes their food. Anthony mmm maeimeh this call it fesenjan. Anthony a stew of fried chicken, onion, ground walnuts, pomegranate, and tomato paste. Anthony and this fruit, theres some kind of fruit . Maeimeh yes. There is a dried apricot inside this as well. Anthony delicious so good bijan needed around 24 hours time. Anthony these are very sophisticated, very timeconsuming dishes to prepare. Always from scratch, and always in excess of what you could possibly need. You tend to kill your guests with kindness around here. Maeimeh tilapia. That fish is from the south of iran. Anthony from the persian gulf . Bijan persian gulf. Maeimeh yes. And this one is from north. We call it mahiye halva. Anthony maybe if i could try some, uh yes, thank you. Maeimeh of course. And that one is gheimeh. We made it with beans, meat. Anthony so good. Mmm. Fantastic food. Bijan man and wife, both of them working. You know . Anthony so its hard to do Something Like this. Bijan yes. Anthony thats what ive been waiting, thats the crispy rice at the bottom, right there . The, whats it called . Tadek . Is that maeimeh tadek. Anthony tadek. Maeimeh exactly. Anthony oh, lovely. Merci. Maeimeh my mom and my motherinlaw, they think if they have a guest, they have to, at least two or three kind of foods. Anthony right. Maeimeh and, uh, if they make just one they think that this is not very polite for the guest. But, uh, nowadays, for example, for my generation, when i have a guest, i will just make one food, one appetizer, and one dessert. Bijan you know why . Maeimeh and bijan you know why . Maeimeh because its much easier [ laughter ] be brilliant. Be the diamond you are. Find dazzling deals on diamonds and more at the zales cyber monday sale. Get 3050 off everything, plus extended black friday specials, including this stunning 7carat diamond bracelet. Exclusively at zales, the diamond store. Including this stunning 7carat diamond bracelet. paul americas best network. The best network is even better. The best deals on the best network. How can everyone be the best . Well, sprints doing things differently. Theyre offering a 100 total satisfaction guarantee. While i think their network and savings are great, you dont just have to take my word for it. Try it out, decide for yourself. Hurry in for exciting holiday deals and save your family money. Get both an unlimited plan and one of the newest phones included for just 35 a month. For people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay. Com if youre stayingcessful businessat holiday inn. Is easy, rowithout the Commission Fees and account minimums. So, you can start investing wherever you are even on the bus. Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Anthony times have changed. Pre1979, tehran was party central, but with irans 1979 revolution, 2,500 years of monarchy was over. The Supreme Leader ayatollah khomeinis word became, more or less, law. Today, hundreds of thousands of iranians are bussed to his enormous shrine from all over the country. A national holiday, khomeini died on this day in 1989. His funeral attended by over 10 million iranians. Man down with ignorance. Viva wisdom man thanks. Anthony dont want to miss the bus. South of tehran the landscape opens up. Nearly 300 miles of iranian highway stretching to the city of isfahan. Isfahan is irans Third Largest city. Half the world, as the saying went, back when this was the capital of persia and beyond. The city is renowned for its architecture. The grandest bridges and mosques, dating back to the middle ages. Shayan where are you from . Anthony the usa, from america. Where are you from . From isfahan . Or from tehran . Shayan tehran. Anthony well, nice to meet you. Shayan nice to meet you too. Im guessing from the decor this is a former wrestlers hangout . Tucked deep in the labyrinth of isfahans bazaar, the smell of something very, very good. This shop has been here doing the same thing for a hundred years. And based on the line, it must be doing it right. Ive had beryani in india. Ive had it in uzbekistan. But, theres no question who invented beryani. Farrokh no. No way. Anthony beryani. Maybe you know the word. Though this doesnt look like any beryani ive ever had. Minced lamb shoulder, onion, turmeric, cinnamon, mint, and of course, saffron. More valuable than gold by weight. This is delicious. Farrokh mmm really good. Anthony isfahan today, the, one of the most visited areas by tourists . Farrokh yeah everybody you know, if you come to iran and you dont visit isfahan, you have wasted your time. Anthony the royal mosque sits astride imam square, the secondlargest square in the world, behind tiananmen in china. At dusk, families come to square to cool off, picnic, have, yes it looks like, even, a little bit of fun. nicki hi, everyone. We just passed the one Year Anniversary of our 5g launch, so lets think about it. We were the first in the world to launch 5g mobile. We flipped the switch on 14 nfl stadiums and with 5g ultra wideband, we hit over 2 gigabits per second. And were gonna be in 30 cities by the end of this year. So thank you all. Only roomba i7 uses two multisurface rubber brushes. And picks up more pet hair than other robot vacuums. And the filter captures 99 of dog and cat allergens. If its not from irobot, its not a roomba™. The best of pressure cooking and air frying now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the Pressure Cooker that crisps. Anthony morning prayer in isfahan. [ men singing ] anthony across town, the khaju bridge where men gather spontaneously to sing. [ men singing ] is this okay, this impromptu giving oneself over to the creative urge . To stand and sing out to no one in particular . Maybe, but not okay, apparently, to film. Tom come on. We gotta go. We gotta go. The road back to tehran. Along the way, reminders of just how far back this culture goes. The ruins of ancient caravanserais, highway rest stops from when armies, merchants, traders travelling by camel, by foot, all passed along these same routes. This, right here, a stop on what was once the silk road, extending all the way to china. In this part of the world, whatever your background, bread is a vital, essential, fundamental, and deeply respected staple. And mornings in tehran, countless bakeries like this one turn out as much as they can. Oh man. Smells good in here. Babak you have to stay in line. Anthony no problem. Standing on line is a daily part of life for many iranians. They bake these things on small stones. Gives it that, that texture. Babak this is why its called sangak. Sang is stone, pebble. Anthony in the years since the 1979 revolution, iranians have weathered wars, food shortages, and crippling trade sanctions that have caused the economy to sputter. Babak so im going to make you a small table. Anthony all right. Babak is kind enough to take me for breakfast. Babak this is called haleem. Anthony awesome and its made from, uh, bulgur wheat . Babak yes, and you know what is inside except wheat . It is meat. It is turkey. This is a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Anthony mmm, thats good. Babak you like . Anthony yeah and this bread is amazing. So you were how old when the war with iraq started . Babak i was exactly seven. Anthony iraq attacked and it was babak yeah. Anthony a surprise attack. Irans eightyearlong war with saddam husseins iraq is deeply, deeply felt. Hundreds of thousands of iranians, many of them children, died fighting in that conflict. Anthony were you afraid . Babak we were afraid. My brother was in the front for three years out of eight, and it was not only my brother. Many young people like him. Eight years of war, you know . With a country that is supported by many big powers. Anthony and it is worth mentioning, whatever you think, wherever we are now, that saddam, supported by u. S. Government, and with our full knowledge used sarin and mustard gas on hundreds of thousands of iranians. Less known in america, known and felt by everyone in iran. Babak and it was a mistake of United States at that time. They made a bad memory for iranians. Anthony but its still, people are indeed really, really nice here. I mean babak because people here dont hate americans. You helped a coup and then a revolution, everything, and then we captured your embassy, and okay, its finished. We didnt kill each other. We didnt have a real fight. So, it can be some political misunderstanding which is resolved. Which will be resolved, maybe i hope. Anthony inshaallah. Babak inshaallah. The holidays are here and so is tmobiles newest, most powerful signal. And we want to keep you connected to those you love, with the new iphone 11. So tmobile is giving you an iphone 11 on us for each new line of unlimited. For yourself, or up to a family of four. Keep your family connected, and hurry into tmobile today, to get up to four iphone 11s on us. Only at tmobile. You wanna see something thatamazing . Ing. Go to hilton instead of a travel site and youll experience a whole new range of emotions like. The relaxing feeling of knowing youre getting the best price. Thesell work. The utter delight of free wifi. Oh man this is the best part. Isnt that you . Yeah. And the magic power of unlocking your room with your phone. I can read minds too. Really . Book at hilton. Com. If you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25 off that stay. Expect better. Expect hilton. smoke alarm robinwithout the Commission Fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Anthony so far, iran does not look, does not feel the way id expected. Neither east nor west, but always somewhere in the middle. Well, it looks spectacular. Ramin you cant have this in a restaurant. Its time consuming. Its very expensive. So you have to, persian cuisine has to be experienced in somebodys home. Anthony oh thank you. Roya so this one here is called boz ghormeh. Anthony its slow cooked lamb in yogurt, is that right . Roya in yogurt and saffron and egg yolks. Anthony nazila, prominent art gallery owner, insisted i come over for lunch with her friends and family. Roya and here we have the sour cherry rice. Little meatballs and chicken. Ramin sour cherries. More than any other nation i think we love sour. Nazila yeah. Anthony rahim, the cook, has been with the family for generations. Rice mixed with yogurt and saffron, baked into a crispy dome. Dont think of rice as a side dish around here. It can be the main event. Rahim okay, very, very good. Anthony you put far more on the table than anyone could conceivably eat. Is that ramin yeah. Nazila yeah. Ramin if you dont like your guest, you dont put anything. Roya and here we have koofteh, which is large, very big, meatball. Anthony koofteh tabrizi. Ground beef, onion, and cooked rice. Walnuts, dried apricots, boiled egg, and barberries. Ramin anyways, we are a very interesting nation. Anthony indeed. And very, and very confusing. Ramin extremely confusing. Anthony for, for me, the contradictions are just nazila enormous. Anthony enormous. Nazila iranians, we take you to our house and we take you to our hearts and all of that and in that way we are extreme, you know. We are extremists in so many ways. Anthony so good. Ramin oh, its always. Anthony you see this tortured relationship between america and iran for many years. How do you think most americans will react when they see this . Ramin they will start coming. Nazila it is very important for us as iranians to get truth. To make sure that we are seen as humans here and not the socalled enemy or the darkness of iran. You know, like you go to like anybodys house in iran and im sure that they will welcome you. Ramin the axis of evil. Were not the axis of evil. Were just normal evil like everybody else. Newsha ten years ago, iran was people, they had hope for future, young people, they wanted to travel, they had little bit money, but because of sanction this sanction really squeezed everybody. Eight years, no Foreign Investment here, and so it was very difficult time. Ramin terrible, terrible. Newsha i mean the population is really young. Seventy percent are under 35 and the thing is they deserve much more than what they have now. They want to have good job, they want to make, you know, have families, but its not possible now for them. Nazila i hope we can have more faith in the ordinary american because every little change in the policy of the western country, it really, really affects our lives here. Anthony the milad tower, irans tallest building and a symbol of national pride. It rises a thousand feet in the air and looks out at all tehran and beyond. We were out on the Observation Deck taking it all in. Trying to make some sense of it all. Our time in iran was coming to an end and it was impossible to say, was a window opening . Or was it only a moment in time before it shut again . You learn pretty quickly that in iran there is plenty of gray area. An undefined territory. Where is the line . It seems to change with barely a moments notice. Okay, here it comes. Building employee this is the first time that we have experienced such a thing. Anthony stand away from the glass. Building employee sir, please come this way. Please follow me. This way. Building employee please stop filming. There goes my bang bang, go bang bang, there goes my bazooka go bang bang, there goes my bang bang, i want my mind blown, i want my mind blown go bang bang, there goes my bazooka smoke alarm groans hmph. food grunting menacingly when the food you love doesnt love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. Tum tumtum tum tums well you remember what happened last year. You cant bring a backup thanksgiving to my sisters house. Its not like were going to walk in with it. Well bring it in as we need it. Phase it in. Phase it in . Yeah, phase it in. Phase it in . If youre stayingcessful businessat holiday inn. Is easy, its the kay black friday event. Save up to 60 on black friday specials like this threepiece diamond set, under onehundred dollars or this diamond ring, under twothousand dollars every best gift ever. Begins with kay. The magic moment. Congress really democratized wall street. I wanted to have a firm that wanted to get everybody in. Because people couldnt access wall street. We wanted to be agents of change. For the better. Anthony last day in iran. Night falls and the kids, like kids anywhere, get in their rides and head for somewhere they can hang out. Amazing display of american keyvan american cars. Anthony American Classics here. Where, where do you get em . Keyvan uh, old mans. Old peoples. Yeah. Anthony old guys, right. And then fix them up . Keyvan yeah. Anthony mustang. [ engine revs ] keyvan camaro. Anthony camaro. Keyvan camaro, yeah. Anthony firebird . Keyvan pontiac. Anthony would, thats a perfect l. A. Car right there. Is this a car club or is this just people just come. Keyvan we hang out this way with our friends. Anthony awesome, all right. Well i called out for a little delivery. One last thing everyones been telling me i have to try. Iranian takeout pizza. Anthony it comes with ketchup keyvan what do you think about iranian pizza . Anthony not bad. Keyvan not bad. Anthony we dont put ketchup on pizza though. Keyvan i love ketchup. Anthony ah, thank you. Keyvan beer. Anthony i spent my youth pretty much doing this. Hanging out at a parking lot. Lets assume the worst. Lets assume that you cannot see any way to reconcile what you think of iran with your own personal beliefs. You just generally dont approve. Jason yeah. Anthony i think those are exactly the sort of places you should go. Jason totally. Anthony see who were talking about and where were talking about here and jason i think its almost unamerican not to go to those places. You know . Anthony i dont know that i can put it in any kind of perspective. I feel, you know, deeply conflicted. Deeply confusing, exhilarating, heartbreaking, beautiful place. Jason yeah, exactly. [ tires squeal ] [ laughter ] keyvan american cars are crazy. Anthony american cars are crazy and theyre fun. [ tires squeal ] all i can tell you is the iran ive seen on tv and read about in the papers, its a much bigger picture. Lets put it this way, its complicated. [ laughter ] [ laughter ] anthony after 10 weeks, yeganeh was finally released. After 16 months he was convicted and sentenced to prison. Group one, two, three. Anthony all right. Thank you guys. Man thank you too. Anthony well see you. Group thank you, tony. Anthony its easily the most contentious piece of real estate in the world. And theres no hope none of ever talking about it without pissing somebody, if not everybody, off. Maybe thats why its taken me so long to come here. A place where even the names of ordinary things are ferociously disputed. Where does falafel come from . Who makes the best hummus . Is it a fence or a wall . By the end of this hour, ill be seen by many as a terrorist sympathizer, a zionist tool, a selfhating jew, an apologist fo