{"id":6785,"date":"2012-09-08T01:22:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-08T05:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/?p=6785"},"modified":"2012-09-08T01:22:24","modified_gmt":"2012-09-08T05:22:24","slug":"in-iran-isfahanis-shrug-off-risk-of-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/in-iran-isfahanis-shrug-off-risk-of-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"In Iran, Isfahanis shrug off risk of attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

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ISFAHAN, Iran \u2014 Isfahan is home to several thousand historic monuments, many of which UNESCO recognizes as world heritage sites. The central Iranian city is also the site of one of the country\u2019s nuclear installations.<\/p>\n

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VAHID SALEMI\/AP –\u00a0An aerial photograph shows Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility, just outside the city of Isfahan in this March 30, 2005.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0speculation grows\u00a0over\u00a0whether Israel will attack\u00a0sites such as the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility, on the city\u2019s outskirts, or Iran\u2019s main\u00a0uranium enrichment\u00a0plant at Natanz, 87 miles to the northeast, Isfahanis themselves shrug off the danger.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

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\u00a0\u201cI am struggling with so many miseries every day, like the increasing rent of my shop and my house, that I do not have time to think about an Israeli attack, let alone be prepared for it,\u201d said Saeed, the owner of a grocery store.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Near the historic Naqshe Jahan Square, which is surrounded by magnificent mosques and a palace, Rozhin, a 30-year-old homemaker, says she lives \u201cvery near\u201d to the Isfahan nuclear site. But she voices no concern about the\u00a0danger of a possible attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood has become like gold,\u201d she said. \u201cNow I can afford to buy meat only for my daughter. That is what I am worried about, not a strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inflation and unemployment is perceived by Isfahanis to be far higher than is suggested by official figures, which put inflation at 23.5 percent and youth unemployment at 28.6 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cInflation is 100 percent, or maybe 200 percent,\u201d said Razieh, a 27-year-old homemaker, as she walked through the 17th century Si-o-se Pol, one of the city\u2019s most beautiful bridges.<\/p>\n

State-run \u201ctelevision says prices of meat have come down. I suppose we should go and buy meat from the television,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Razieh and other residents of the city blame their economic problems on both the populist policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the\u00a0international sanctions\u00a0over the country\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

The value of the Iranian rial has fallen by more than 50 percent this year because of the tightening of U.S. banking sanctions and the European Union\u2019s ban on Iranian oil imports. That has dramatically increased the price of imported products and raw materials for local industries.<\/p>\n

Sahar, a 22-year-old student of psychology with a part-time job at an upmarket toy shop, said that Thursdays, the first day of the Iranian weekend, used to be very busy but that now \u201cyou hardly see anyone walking into this shop on a Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly those families who are well-off now buy imported toys for their kids,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pessimism over the economy has been exacerbated by the drying of the city\u2019s Zayandeh River, blamed on a combination of drought and a decision in Tehran to divert its waters to farms and factories.<\/p>\n

The once-picturesque waterway is now a dismal stretch of scrub that cuts through the city. According to Mayor Morteza Saghaeian-Nejad, the sight has demoralized residents and could partly explain their angry comments on the economic situation.<\/p>\n

Saghaeian-Nejad said he is not worried about a possible Israeli strike on Isfahan\u2019s nuclear facilities, although he noted that it is the responsibility of UNESCO to protect a city with 4,000 historical sites.<\/p>\n

The lack of anxiety over an Israeli attack may be due as much to the government\u2019s well-publicized rhetoric that the Jewish state would not dare launch an attack on the Islamic republic as to a preoccupation with economic concerns.<\/p>\n

But for Nader, a 55-year-old retired teacher, his beloved city appears threatened on all sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not pass by the Zayandeh River anymore and would rather forget about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the situation continues like this\u00a0.\u2009.\u2009.\u00a0people will eat each other up without any need for Israel to destroy this city and this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Financial Times<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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  ISFAHAN, Iran \u2014 Isfahan is home to several thousand historic monuments, many of which UNESCO recognizes as world heritage sites. The central Iranian city is also the site of … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}