Economics
Maseratis and Cheap Sandals Expose Iran's Divide Before Election
The prosperity gap is on full display on Tehran’s main boulevard.
The snow capped peaks of the Alborz mountain range stand beyond buildings and rooftops on the city skyline in Tehran.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Valiasr Street, the 12-mile boulevard that Shah Reza Pahlavi built in the 1930s to link his summer palaces in the north of Tehran to a new train station in the south, connects two increasingly polarized Iranian worlds.
At the top, where the city climbs into the foothills of the Alborz mountains, the wealthy try to escape Tehran’s dense pollution. Their marbled apartments can go for $10 million, stores sell Rolexes and Maseratis. Chicly dressed women have their compulsory headscarves casually slung.