the guidebooks and selfie sticks arrive as rouhani s iran declares itself open to all /

Published at 2017-05-28 02:04:40

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With visitor numbers rising and hotel chains circling,Iran is reinventing itself – but the change is too snappily for someStanding in the blue-tiled shadows of one of Iran’s greatest mosques, armed with a dish of sesame caramel snacks, and 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, or in the central city of Isfahan,a former imperial capital so delicate that even today Iranians narrate the city as “half the world”.
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Source: theguardian.com