Iran, a few hours before the end of the year

New Year shopping in Iran

By Alireza Bahrami

TEHRAN: Within a few hours, the new year will begin in Iran. The past year was very strange for the people of Iran.

It all started a few years ago when Donald Trump became the president of the United States of America. His country withdrew from negotiations with Iran over the nuclear issue.

Since then, Iran’s oil has been sold less and the value of the national currency in Iran has decreased.

When Joe Biden became the president, there was an expectation that the situation would change, but it did not.

The failure of the negotiations made the people of Iran not to participate in the presidential elections.

As a result, another political faction was elected that was not in favor of negotiating with the West.

The right wing fought with the young generation over individual freedoms.

In the middle of the year, the death of a young girl in the police headquarters caused a new wave of protests to form in Iran. Personally, as a journalist, I have experienced street protests in Iran 23 years, 13 years, five years and three years ago.

This time another generation of protesters had emerged. They were reckless and angry.

Of course, the government dealt with the protesters with more tolerance this time.

The opposition abroad played a greater role during the protests. The protests gradually turned violent.

The opposition abroad also encouraged the youth to commit violent acts.

Little by little, people were killed among the protesters, police, and para-police.

The protests subsided little by little, but the execution of the court order against several protesters, which was carried out according to the rules of Islam, created new protests. Journalists also experienced difficult working conditions.

Haji Firooz is like Santa Claus in Persian New Year

But six months after the beginning of the protests, diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, which were cut off a few years ago, were resumed last week.

Saudi Arabia was supposed to be an ally of Israel, but in a twist, it accepted China’s mediation.

Iran and Saudi Arabia signed economic agreements with China in the past months.

After Saudi Arabia, relations with the United Arab Emirates also improved.

Now it is heard that relations with Bahrain and other Arab countries will be established.

The world of politics has always been like this; Political rotations based on national interests. But young people have always stuck to their beliefs or become disillusioned.

The situation in Iran is calmer than what is reported in the media. Now that I am writing this article in the editorial room of the news agency in the center of Tehran, people are shopping for the New Year in a nearby street.

The shopping market is bustling with people.

In a few hours, people will congratulate one another, except for the families who lost their children in the protests of the last few months.

The media of the world deal with the issue of Iran every day, but all of them have forgotten the victims of the earthquake in Syria. Many media are also indifferent to the victims of the earthquake in Türkiye.

Twenty years ago, there was a major earthquake in the center of Iran.

A few hours after it struck, I arrived at the earthquake site as a reporter. The city was destroyed. I saw horrible scenes that I had seen before in Hollywood movies.

My colleagues were crying as they took pictures. The number of the dead was very high and for several days, corpses were seen everywhere in the city.

At that time, I estimated that the number of dead was 44,000 people. Later, the government announced that the number of dead was 24,000.

There were earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria. Official statistics say that 44,000 people were killed in this tragedy.

I can guess about the situation of the Syrian people and especially the Turkish people who made the most sacrifices.

I request my colleagues in the world media to pay attention to the situation of the earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria. They lost their homes, their families, and their cities. An earthquake is not a political event that changes.