TEHRAN — Tehran’s long evening rush hour is winding to a close. Mohammed, my taxi driver, makes his way briskly down Beheshti Street, named after the assassinated revolutionary cleric, in a rusty Peykan car that smells faintly of gasoline.
The plaintive tones of the evening’s news report buzz from his car radio. “President Hassan Rouhani will address the UN General Assembly at 11:30 p.m. Tehran time tonight,” announces the female presenter before a long news jingle, based on Jennifer Rush’s ’80s single ‘The Power of Love,’ plays out.