The New York Times Tehran Bureau Chief Thomas
Erdbrink told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour today residents of Tehran were ecstatic
this weekend when Iran and world powers struck a nuclear deal.
“These people have been living under incredible pressures over the last
years,” Erdbrink said. “They had to face sanctions, high unemployment, high
inflation, and basically they have grown so accustomed to hearing only horrible
news that this is the first time in almost a decade that they’re hearing
something positive.” (CNN, 25 November)
That elation, though, had died down a bit by Monday.
“People today were a bit more subdued,” he said, “and they were telling
me, ‘Sure, we made this deal and we are happy, but we’ve been tricked so many
times. Maybe this time we’ll be tricked again.
“One young man came up to me and he told me, ‘Thomas, I am now 30 years
old. When Ahmadinejad came to power I was 22. Why were those eight years of my
life wasted? Why am I still without a job? Why do I hold a university degree
but don’t have a future in this country?”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei, who has backed President
Hassan Rouhani in the negotiations, is “widely seen as the architect behind the
scenes,” Erdbrink said.
“We don’t know what prompted him to make this deal, but he has clearly
given the go-ahead to President Rouhani to go out there and start trying to
repair those broken relations with the West.”
Khamanei said yesterday that he supported the interim deal that had been
reached, but with “one caveat.”
“He said, ‘The way you present the deal to me sounds like a success.’ So
he left a kind of way out in case the deal doesn’t work in the future for him
to say, ‘Well this is not working out, I haven’t totally backed this deal to
the maximum.’”
Nonetheless, Iran’s hard-line clerics and Revolutionary Guard
commanders, Erdbrink said, “have been very, very silent on this deal.”
“Most factions in power are in full support of the deal as it is now.
Will they still support it after a week? After a month, when maybe some issues
will be raised, some problems will start? We don’t know.”
File photo: The New York Times Tehran Bureau Chief Thomas Erdbrink (Twitter)
"Why do I hold a university degree but don’t have a future in this country?”
ReplyDeleteBecause your degree is from some crappy Islamic Azad university or whatever, and not University of Tehran or other top schools, and/or because your degree is in a bullshit field.
Same thing happens in the USA. A college degree isn't worth much anymore.
noble questions-
Delete@-Where does the Guy in the subject tell that His degree is from 'crappy Ismaic Azad University?
@ What makes you think that his degree is not from Tehran University or other top schools in the country?
@-Are you honest that degree holders from other institutions other than Islamic ones get preference in the market?
@-Do you also have the same prejudice for Catholic Universities and others or you limit yourself to 'Islamic'
@'Same thing happens in the States ,a collage degree isn't worth much anymore-' if this is the case as you wisely observe ,why the overflowing rage ,given the economic situation of the country!
-You man is kinda obese and need to hit the gym , lose some weight and breath some wisdom!.
Tehran University and Islamic Azad were selected not because of religious affiliations, but because one is a good school and the other is some dump private school that admits anyone who cuts them a check.
DeleteAhmadinejad's administration is being shown to be a complete failure. I remember when he spoke before OPEC and said the U.S. dollar was a "worthless piece of paper" and that he didn't want to continue accepting it for Iranian oil. What a total incompetent and moronic idiot.
ReplyDeleteSee link here if you don't believe me http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800325.html
So it was Salehi that was one of the officials that began secret meetings with U.S. before and after the June election, that ultimately carried the day at the second round of talks at Geneva. From the Iranian side he and Khemenei deserve credit for the achievement, stretching back to the time of the previous administration.
ReplyDelete