Snippets on Iran (According to the BBC)

On Anti-Semitism

Although Iran and Israel are bitter enemies, few know that Iran is home to the largest number of Jews anywhere in the Middle East outside Israel. There are approximately 25,000 Iranian Jews whose cultural roots in Iran go back 3,000 years.

On US-Iran Relations

“In Russia, they eat ice cream in the winter because its warmer than the air.” (Iranian Foreign Minister, responding to Condolezza Rice’s niceties in Egypt last week)

On the President

“They held portraits of Mr Ahmadinejad upside down to mock him and then set them on fire.” (BBC reporting on a recent student protest against Iran’s president at Tehran’s largest university)

On Women

“[The moral police] are stopping pedestrians and even cars - warning female drivers not to show any hair - and impounding the vehicles and arresting the women if they argue back.” (BBC reporting on a recent Iranian crackdown on women’s dress)

On Cosmetic Surgery

Since the revolution in 1979, Iran has become one of the world's leading centres for cosmetic surgery with three thousand plastic surgeons operating in Tehran alone. Dr Navab explains that some of his patients are indeed congenitally ugly…

On Public Opinion

"I want the whole world to know that they oppress us and all we can do is put up with it." (15 year old Iranian citizen Tofiq)

*go to BBC Middle East for a more complete look at what’s going on in Iran, as this is skewed :)