The guidebooks and selfie-sticks arrive as Rouhani’s Iran declares itself open to all
With visitor numbers rising and hotel chains circling, Iran is reinventing itself – but the change is too fast for some
Standing in the blue-tiled shadows of one of Iran’s greatest mosques, armed with a dish of sesame caramel snacks, Mohammed Reza Zamani is a cleric on a mission to repair the country’s image in the west, one tourist at a time.
“Free Friendly Talks” a billboard announces in English, at the entrance to a historic religious seminary-turned-museum, in the central city of Isfahan, a former imperial capital so beautiful that even today Iranians describe the city as “half the world”.
Tourism brings both money and a more positive international image for Iran, says Zamani,
