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The Irish Sun

I endured 5 sobering days in Iran's capital & saw what locals have put up with for 46 yrs – reign of tyranny must end

4 THERE are no boozers in Iran. In the capital, Tehran there are plenty of shops selling spare parts for trucks and heavy machinery though. There are also a plethora of stores flogging long-sleeved shirts, hijabs and chadors (full body cloaks). Advertisement In the Islamic Republic, advertising is virtually non-existent. Western brands are forbidden. They drive 4 The forbidding eyes of the Ayatollahs stare down at the public in Tehran Credit: Alamy The only advertisements you'll see, apart from those praising local products, are massive murals celebrating the The 'martyrs' of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war adorn the sides of apartment blocks. The street outside the old British Embassy is still named after the Advertisement Four-lane motorways accommodate eight lanes of traffic, at least. A city of 10 million souls live in a theocratic prison. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 promised freedom, instead it delivered repression, isolation, inequality, death and despair. Men in black never deliver. Those are some of my memories of Tehran. I was there for the guts of a week in November 2001, sent by my editor to cover the World Cup play-off match between Ireland and Iran. The winner would go to Ireland had won the first leg in Advertisement I was part of a media pack of about 20. A further 100 or so die-hard fans joined us. We travelled on the same plane as the team, jetting out on a Sunday. We all stayed in the same hotel, the five-star Laleh International, guarded 24/7 by plain-clothes Iranian regime spies and car loads of Basij, the morality Whenever we ventured out, we were followed at an indiscreet distance. We knew they were there and they wanted us to know they were there. After all, it had been just two months since terrorists had flown two planes into the Twin Towers in DICKY STOMACH After two days without a drop of There's only so much soft drink one can imbibe, without the body rebelling. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the day before the big game, rumours swirled at the hotel that someone had sourced booze, but at a secret location in the city. All very hush, hush it had to be. A go-between by the name of 20 Major had set up the pre-match party, but it'd be £50 a head (punts). Advertisement That evening, three or four mini-buses drove up to the back gate of the hotel to take 40 or so who'd stumped up the necessary. After an hour's ride through back streets the buses parked up outside a block of apartments. The fans were ushered inside and found themselves outside a flat in a dark hall. The door slowly opened and they were ushered in, the hosts holding their fingers up to their lips. Hands were rubbed, lips licked, feet tapped together in anticipation of a feed of drink. In they traipsed to the kitchen. A generous spread of grub was piled on one table, but all eyes were on the table at the back wall. MATCH DAY For there lay the holy grail; 200 cans of Tuborg that were TWO YEARS out of date. Un­deterred by the prospect of a dicky stomach the following day (and they all had), the cans were devoured. Advertisement At 3am, they were smuggled back to the hotel, mercifully without incident. Match day. Thursday evening. The Azadi stadium. 99,900 Iranian men. A sea of beards. 100 Paddies. A cacophony of noise, colour and horns. The stadium was ringed with Islamic revolutionary slogans. Two giant portraits of old, dead Khomeini and the new man in black, Khamenei staring at us. A dour, nervous game. The first time women had been allowed into a football stadium in Iran (after a diplomatic wrangle). Ten or so of our girls. Wearing green chadors in defiance, in a metal cage. STADIUM SCENES Iran winning 1-0. Ireland hanging on for the win. Scenes. Rocks and bottles come at us from all angles. The revolutionary posters are torn down and set on fire. Seats are on fire too. We're kept in the stadium for three hours afterwards. Outside, Iranian fans and police engage in running battles. Advertisement Our buses arrive. Reporters, photographers, Irish fans and team clamber on board. Glass and debris litter the road on the 45km drive from the stadium to the airport. No one says a word. Fear makes you shut your trap. Airport staff can't get shot of us fast enough. Scowls. Moustaches. Dark eyes. We board the The relief to be away from that suffocating place. What must it be like for ordinary, decent Iranians? We endured five sobering days there. They've put up with it for the last 46 years. The soft and remarkable Iranian people long for regime change, the one thing both Israel and the For lasting peace in the Advertisement STUDENT RITE ENDS YOUNGSTERS heading to America on J1 student visas to work during the We've been doing it for generations. I went to 4 President Donald Trump ordered US embassies world-wide to vet the social media of everyone seeking a work visa Credit: Shutterstock Editorial They worked in bars and restaurants, at amusement arcades, as hotel valets and porters to name but a few. They had a ball. America gave them a taste of a culture that's been in the Irish DNA for over 150 years. Both profited hugely from the exchange. Advertisement Students will now think long and hard about heading to the States on a J1 after Kids will now have to make public every Who would want to go through that? The days of the J1 are over. Until Trump is ousted and sanity prevails in America, Irish students and anyone else in possession of a brain will go to work and live in SOLVE THE MYSTERY TO lose a child is unfathomable. To lose a child and for them never to be found is a heartbreak too far. Annie McCarrick, who The search of the house has ended. Annie's mother, Nancy, who lives in Long Island, New York, has endured a living hell. The latest developments would have given her renewed hope of a breakthrough as to what happened to Annie. The cold case cops are close, but not there yet. For Nancy's sake, hopefully they will crack the case soon. ALL TALK, NO ACTION IN DUBLIN THE hot air brigade were busy again this week huffing and puffing and bloviating about what they will do. Taoiseach Advertisement 4 Waste on the side of a road in Dublin Credit: Alamy Like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, we've stopped believing anything that emanates from either of their mouths. We've heard it all before. Now is not the time for more talk, it's way past the time for action. Dublin is blighted by dereliction, crime-ridden due to too few cops, chronically littered and its public spaces filthy. A firm hand would end that quickly. Instead of tough love, we were again served up the weak hand this week. Advertisement Martin, Martin said policing numbers would be increased over the next TEN YEARS. Christ almighty. They waxed lyrical about the revamp of the GPO, the Abbey and Ambassador theatres and the Fruit & Veg market. But these are already under way and not because of anything they did. The Dublin City Task Force made a series of recommendations last year. Those recommendations remain largely unfulfilled. 'DUBLIN IS A JEWEL SINCE that report, the government has failed to implement concrete plans and match any commitments with the necessary funding. Dublin is a jewel. It is a city we should be proud of. It deserves better than the plamas being lobbed in its direction every few months from politicians who, if they did care about sorting Dublin's problems, would just get on with it and do it. It's clear this government, with FF/FG in power, has failed Dublin and its citizens. They have repeatedly reneged on a recommendation from the Citizens' Assembly that Dublin have its own directly elected mayor with real power. Hot air won't transform Dublin, a mayor with teeth would. Until that happens, don't believe a word the government says about our capital city.