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Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

1843magazine.com

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Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#51

Post by yodsanklai »

grecy wrote: post #35
yodsanklai wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I absolutely can not wait to go. I would like to go too. Unfortunately, I also travel frequently to the US and visiting Iran would make further trip to the US potentially problematic.

I have a full page visa and entrance stamps from Sudan in my passport, and I've crossed into the US three times now with that in my passport and they've never said a word.

Seems you're not eligible to a Visa Waiver if you traveled to Iran or Sudan. Which means you need to apply for a visa at your US embassy [1] (which in my case was expensive and required a one day trip). Also it's not only a matter of having an Iranian stamp on your passport. You're not eligible for the VWP even if you visited this countries. I wouldn't try to lie about this!

"When can’t I use the VWP (ESTA) and need a visa?

Due to personal circumstances:

you traveled to certain countries (Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen on or after March 1, 2011)"

[1] https://nl.usembassy.gov/visas/visa-waiver-program/

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#52

Post by mostafah »

yodsanklai wrote: post #23
grecy wrote: post #19

I've driven from Alaska to Argentina[0] and right around Africa[1], and I've met a bunch of people that have explored a lot more of the planet than I have. Without fail, every single person that has been to Iran rates it their number one country, and the one they most want to go back to. The people are so friendly, the culture so rich, the landscape and architecture so stunning. I absolutely can not wait to go. [0] t…

> I absolutely can not wait to go. I would like to go too. Unfortunately, I also travel frequently to the US and visiting Iran would make further trip to the US potentially problematic.

I think they (Iranian government) recently changed the rules and don’t stamp the visa into the passport. Not sure though, you better do a little research about it.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#53

Post by nradov »

arethuza wrote: post #36
yodsanklai wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I absolutely can not wait to go. I would like to go too. Unfortunately, I also travel frequently to the US and visiting Iran would make further trip to the US potentially problematic.

I sometimes used to get an alarming amount of grief entering the US because I had quite a few Turkish stamps in my passport as we used to go there a lot on holiday. I hate to think what would happen with an Iranian stamp!

The US government is very concerned about people who use Turkey as an entry point to nearby conflict zones in Syria and Iraq. When I applied for the Global Entry program the only interview question they asked me was why I had visited Turkey.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#54

Post by xerxex »

derp_dee_derp wrote: post #8
dmix wrote: post #3

There was a spy TV show produced in Iran and pushed heavily on the state run TV networks there that they used to help justify detaining reporters, very clever propaganda: https://apnews.com/c5348f244a6b484fa3678f39a12e3ceb I remember seeing a clip of an Iranian leader saying every journalist is a spy and if they aren't they should be because they "don't get paid enough". Gives you insight into their thinking, or what…

very clever propaganda indeed. our politicians do the same thing. Madam Secretary [0] was propaganda for Hillary Clinton Diary of a Future President [1] is propaganda for Michelle Obama [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_Secretary_(TV_series) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Future_President

I bet you are a Fox News viewer demographic

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#55

Post by marouo »

yodsanklai wrote: post #23
grecy wrote: post #19

I've driven from Alaska to Argentina[0] and right around Africa[1], and I've met a bunch of people that have explored a lot more of the planet than I have. Without fail, every single person that has been to Iran rates it their number one country, and the one they most want to go back to. The people are so friendly, the culture so rich, the landscape and architecture so stunning. I absolutely can not wait to go. [0] t…

> I absolutely can not wait to go. I would like to go too. Unfortunately, I also travel frequently to the US and visiting Iran would make further trip to the US potentially problematic.

Went to Iran a few years ago and my esta got declined.

And I'm from Germany...

I don't think I would not get a visa at an embassy.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#56

Post by vkou »

dmix wrote: post #3

There was a spy TV show produced in Iran and pushed heavily on the state run TV networks there that they used to help justify detaining reporters, very clever propaganda: https://apnews.com/c5348f244a6b484fa3678f39a12e3ceb I remember seeing a clip of an Iranian leader saying every journalist is a spy and if they aren't they should be because they "don't get paid enough". Gives you insight into their thinking, or what…

There was also a prominent spy show[1] produced in the US that seemed to be intended as propaganda for normalizing torture. That morally bankrupt practice was portrayed as effective, expedient, cathartic, and the only solution to all the bad men that will come get us, because they hate our freedom.

If you're looking for ethical integrity, you should probably stop turning to spy shows for it. They are loud, dumb, and tend to be sickeningly nationalistic.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_(TV_series)

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#57

Post by adrianN »

dmurray wrote: post #40
adrianN wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that even in "civilized" western countries there are a few percent of the population who really don't like Jews, I doubt that only Iran's leaders want to get rid of Israel. The data also seems to suggest that antisemitism is more prevalent in Iran than in a lot of other countries: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/90093/1/MPRA_paper_90093.pdf A final analysis then shows the extent of Antisemitism in different cou…

I downvoted for equating anti-Israel sentiment with anti-semitism. There are lots of other reasons to dislike Israel.

Ah yes, that's something that always annoys me too. Sorry for that. But I think the implication in the direction anti-semite -> anti-zionist is pretty strong, so for this particular question I think that surveys about antisemitism provide a good basis for discussion. I'd assume that anti-zionists form an almost perfect superset of anti-semites.

edit: or maybe not, you could imagine someone who really doesn't like Jews and wants to send all of them to Israel.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#58

Post by armenarmen »

albroland wrote: post #47
Centigonal wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tehran is a beautiful city with a wide range of smart, compassionate, cool people. My cousin in Tehran introduced me to games like Counterstrike, Grim Fandango, and Battlefield, which got me into PC gaming, which got me into open source game scripting. We spent a few summers in Tehran, and there was this electronics bazaar called Paytakht[1] that I'd always beg my mom to take me to. They had everything from motherboa…

This mirrors my experience when I visited: incredibly hospitable, polite, and outgoing people. As a US passport holder with no relation to Iran or Israel, it was easy enough to visit, although you are under the watch of your state-sanctioned minder the entire time as the author eluded to. Going through immigration on arrival, I was detained for about an hour while they presumably were examining my documents, but ever…

Yep, I get Christmas cards from my cousins in Tehran. They can eat pork, make and drink wine with no real issue. Iran has (for abrahamic faiths at least) probably the best religious tolerance in the region

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#59

Post by aliceryhl »

arethuza wrote: post #36
yodsanklai wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I absolutely can not wait to go. I would like to go too. Unfortunately, I also travel frequently to the US and visiting Iran would make further trip to the US potentially problematic.

I sometimes used to get an alarming amount of grief entering the US because I had quite a few Turkish stamps in my passport as we used to go there a lot on holiday. I hate to think what would happen with an Iranian stamp!

I have an Iranian visa in my passport, so I had to get a US visa to go to the US. I didn't have to talk to anyone when entering — the electronic thingy scanned the visa, and that was it.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#60

Post by auiya »

The writer seems to exhibit copious amounts of Stockholm syndrome for his captors. From that standpoint it was a successful intelligence operation on their part. Iranian intelligence can likely count on him as an asset to answer questions over the phone for them in the future for some time.
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