Re: Iran 1978

Posted by Mike McDermott on Nov 10, 2013; 1:13am
URL: http://sundownersadventures.385.s1.nabble.com/Iran-1978-tp5706763p5706776.html

Whatever one might think of the central premise, there is a detailed timeline on the Iranian Revolution at http://dmc.members.sonic.net/sentinel/1earth2.html, and there is a timeline on Afghanistan at http://www.timeline-help.com/soviet-invasion-of-afghanistan-timeline.html

As reported earlier in this forum, the last time I was in Afghanistan was during the Saur Revolution of April 1978 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saur_Revolution. At the time, Brendon had noted the relative lack of skills of the tank drivers in time to step back and avoid being squashed by one, unlike the poor sod he had been standing beside a few seconds before. However, we all thought that the skills of the pilots later attacking the palace on the opposite side of the square from us was, in our lay opinions, pretty damn good. Later, it was said that they were elite Russian pilots, but again I can't say.

So I think it's highly likely that Simon is right: the soldiers he saw would have been Soviet troops. The two revolutions were likely both cold war engineered. Sometimes the cold war wasn't that cold at all.

Irritatingly, whenever bombs went off that night (27-28 April 1978) punters would race into my room to see what was happening. The next morning they wrote in the trip book, “the slogan goes, make love not war: Mike has a better idea; make love during war”.

I don't remember the date of our last trip through Iran, but it was just after the fall of the Shah and, I think, before the hostage crisis, which would make it early 1979. We were westbound, and I remember being helped to find a hotel in Zahedan by a friendly young Iranian and how proud he  was of their revolution. I also remember that an eastbound trip told us not to buy any carpets in Iran, because they would be confiscated if we did because they were national treasures. Some ignored that advice and bought some off Jaffa in Isfahan, but sure enough the coach was searched going out of Iran into Turkey and the carpets were confiscated. I think we had rolled them in with our tents, which was pretty incriminating, but they let us go.

I had quizzed Jaffa in Isfahan, and he had money-back-guaranteed that the reports of carpet confiscations were untrue.  Later I met Jaffa again in the pub in London. He promised to refund the money, but I am still waiting. I am sure that it won't be much longer before he does. Patience is, after all, a virtue