With the Iranian nuclear sites in the news, I thought it was a good time to talk about my time in Iran as it pertains to the nuclear sites.
Driving by Two Iranian Nuclear Sites
Back in 2013, I had the opportunity to travel to Iran on a personal tour. This meant that I was traveling with just my driver and guide. It was only $80 more to do it this way than a group so I, of course, opted for the chance to have a personalized tour experience.
I want to start this post by saying that I am not making any political statements in this post – this is a post regarding my travel experiences in a country that very few Americans have personal experience with (my guide told me that, at that time, only 2,400 Americans visited Iran each year).
Arriving In Iran
I flew into the country into the city of Shiraz which is in southern Iran. I flew from Greece via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. I arrived around 1AM or so and had to stand in a long line of fellow passengers waiting for clearance through passport control. A police officer was coming down the line asking to see passports and was very smiling and cheery until he saw my US passport. At that point, he scowled and called out very loudly, “Amrikouri!” which meant “American”. Everyone in the line and in the vicinity looked and stared at me as the officer led me away to a chair in the corner. I had to wait until all the other passengers were processed and then they escorted me to the counter.
Once clearing that, I was picked up by my guide and drive and driven to the Arian hotel in Shiraz. From there, we would drive north over the next few days, overnighting in Isfahan, Kashan, and Tehran before flying out.
As an American, I was supposed to have an escort with me at all times. But, in Shiraz, they told me I could go out for a run by myself – which I did! But, in Isfahan, they told me it was a very religious city and if I left the hotel at all, I would be arrested by the religious police (and they showed me that they were stationed outside the hotel). In Tehran, I was free to roam on my own once again.
It was on our drive north that we passed first the nuclear facility near Isfahan (which we could see in the distance from one of our stops) and then past Natanz and that nuclear facility. It was a massive, sprawling facility and very near where we were driving. My guide took pride in pointing it out to me and telling me some of the history of it. I should note that my guide was definitely a lover of America and American products and companies, he wasn’t a religious man by any stretch. So his pride was more in the abilities of his country than military might.
Driving By Natanz Nuclear Facility
Because I was trying hard to not make assumptions at all on this trip and also because much of what I knew of Iran at this point was from western media, I simply would ask questions that were not assuming anything. So, I asked him, “is this for research for power generation?” He turned around and looked at me with and said, “no! This is for making bombs!” I told him that in western media, we were told that it was just for civilian research. He told me, “that is what Iran tells the world but they are always telling us that it is for the making of bombs – they want to bomb the Israelis first and then you.” He kind of shook his head as he said this and said he doesn’t agree with that but that is what his country is doing and this is where he lives.
We stopped at a nearby gas station. At it, there was a huge tractor trailer setup with military and police vehicles all around it. My guide told me it was one of the delivery convoys for the nuclear facility and it was guarded by IRGC forces and local police picking up along the way and handing off to the next local police forces.
As we walked into the gas station (by the way, the cost for gas per gallon was 11 cents per gallon!), my guide and I were talking and when the military and police heard my English, they were glaring at me with stares that could kill – if looks could kill. That was how the whole trip went – everyone that was not military or police were super friendly and talkative with me. I regularly had Iranians coming up to me, when they heard us talking, and ask to take a picture with me. It was only the military and police that were not my biggest fans. 🙂
Standing with two random Iranians who wanted a picture with me.
The ironic part about all that is they were likely suspicious of me being an American in their country – even the border agent asked if I worked for the CIA. 🙂 I mean, I think that if I had worked for the CIA, I may have used a passport from a different country and not talked American English! 🙂
So, all the way back to 2013, Iran was telling their people that the nuclear facilities were working on research and production for nuclear bombs – even as they told the world they were not pursuing nuclear weapons. Obviously, they may have just been trying to keep their people energized – or…?
I tried to go back in 2017 to run the inaugural Tehran Marathon. Had I been able to go (my visa was never approved), I would have been the only person to have ever run the inaugural Jerusalem marathon and the inaugural Tehran marathon! 🙂 Oh well!
Featured photo is of a road leading to Natanz. I had tried to take photos as we passed the base but didn’t want to get in trouble if they saw those on my departure from the country.
