Being Irish in Iran is a real plus. Many people speak English, and all are curious about foreginers. When it eventually got through that "aarland" was the country of origin, the immediate reaction of two young men in Tehran's central bazaar was "Ah, Sinn, Fein" and "Bobby Sands". Bobby Sands is the most famous Irishman in Iran.
Everywhere you go, when people discover you are Irish, his is the name they respond with. "Sahid Bobby Sands" ( the martyr Bobby Sands) as he is known. There is no higher honour among Iranians. The one million men who dies during the Iran-Iraq war are known as the "Martyrs". A street in Tehran has been named bobby Sands St. it runs right along the British Embassy compound. One man explained the Irish are so favoured because of a deep hostility to the British. They even believe the British are behind current Us hostility of Iran, he said.
History may suggest why. In 1909, the Anglo- Iranian Oil Company was set up to control the country's oil output. It is better known as British Petroleum (BP). In 1951, then prime minister Musaddeq pressed for nationalism of the oil industry. The Shah fled, and in 1953, the CIA organised a coup d'etat, deposing Musaddeq. The Shah returned, Bp was allowed 40 per cent control of the oil industry.
Since the revolution, oil output in Iran is controlled by the Ministry of Petroeum. And it was the British and Americans who supplied the arms whicg enabled Saddam Hussein wage the Iran- Iraq war.