Many women didn’t wear hijab. Religiosity seemed less overt in most of the city than in some parts of India. Nightlife was not dead, it was great. And Israel and US were not discussed as hated countries
Beneath the shadow of global headlines, day-to-day reality in Iran has long been at variance with Western narratives. In Nov, when we spent three days in Tehran, one of the first messages I received when I reached – from a friend in US – said the women must all be in hijabs. How wrong that was!