“What’s Going to Happen Now?” The Trump Victory as Heard on the Streets of Tehran

An Iranian citizen journalist, who writes under a pseudonym to protect her identity, wrote the following article on the ground inside Iran.

“What will happen to us if Trump wins?” the taxi driver asks the passenger sitting on the front seat. It’s the first mention of the historical event unfolding in America I’ve encountered this morning. It is a few minutes before 8am, and the people of Tehran have just woken up and are already paying close attention to what is happening on the other side of the world.

The passenger glances at his smartphone. “It is not yet definite who has won,” he says. 

“But a passenger before you was saying that he [Trump] has received more votes in important states,” answers the driver. 

“What can I say?” says the passenger.

“I heard he is like Ahmadinejad,” the driver continues. “I mean, we were just getting rid of sanctions and such. Now that these Republicans have returned, they are going to impose sanctions on us again.”

The front-seat passenger moves the phone around in his hand. “No, it is not so simple,” he says. “Americans have committed to the JCPOA [nuclear agreement] and they cannot deny it.” 

The passenger sitting next to me suddenly comes to life. “But neither the Congress agreed with it, nor did their hardliners, just like in Iran,” she says. “Mr. Rouhani and his government succeeded in doing one important thing, and now that is over, too. We must pray that this guy does not win.” As I listen to the anxieties of these fellow passengers, I wonder: what will happen if Trump does win the presidency of the United States?

Now it is close to noon. I see on my mobile that, according to the BBC, Donald Trump has won the election. “It is over,” a friend messages me on Telegram. “Americans voted for Trump and Hillary is defeated.”

No Time for Jokes

On November 8, Twitter and Persian-language social network sites were brimming with jokes about the American election. But today they are dominated by worries and hopelessness. “The Americans did not learn their lesson from us and our mistake when we elected an immature guy,” tweets one friend. Another friend writes about dreading the next four years. Most people have yet to accept that this controversial candidate has won the election. The news is so shocking that nobody has yet come up with a joke about it.

I remember June 14, 2005, the day that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was first elected to be the president of Iran. My friend’s remarks now reminds me of that day. I ask another friend how she is doing. She sends me a sad emoji and says: “I’m going mad.” 

“But how much Republicans can affect our lives?” I ask. 

“A lot,” she says. “This guy is a warmonger. Like most Republicans, he is racist and anti-Muslim. What else do you want? What’s going to happen now?”

This question “what’s going to happen now?” has a familiar ring to it. People were asking the same question when Ahmadinejad was elected. I am reading people’s answers when a colleague comes into my office and asks: “Did you hear the news? What is your take on Trump’s win?” he says. “

“What do you think?” I ask. 

“I really don’t know,” he says. “Everybody says this guy is so extreme. Do you think he won by cheating?” 

“No, the American people voted for him.”

“Then may God have mercy,” he says.

This is also a familiar refrain. I hear “may God have mercy” from Mina, a young woman I meet on my way to the town center. It is now 2pm. Trump has left Trump Tower for the Hilton to celebrate his victory. But, here in Tehran, people are waiting for the news that it has all  been a mistake.

“We Can’t get A Break”

I ask Mina about Trump’s victory and its impact on Iran. “It seems that our people can't get a break,” she says. “Trump has promised he would repeal the nuclear agreement. This means going back to 2013. This ain’t good. Right now, because of Trump, the price of oil has fallen, the market has fallen and probably will continue to fall.”

I talk to Farid, who describes himself as an economic expert. He does not agree with Mina. He says he had predicted Trump’s victory and believes it will benefit the world. He followed the election throughout the night. “Contrary to what our people believe, Trump is not such a scary guy,” he says. “I mean, he is not scarier than Clinton. She was as opposed to the nuclear agreement with Iran as Trump is. And let us not forget that this was the reaction of the American people to Democrats’ policies in the world.”

It is now close to 4pm and as I am going towards Karim Khan Avenue I Pass near Chahar-Sou shopping center. The price of mobile phones has fallen because the dollar is in decline, but of course the people trying to sell them are not happy about the lower prices. A young salesman sits behind the cash register playing listlessly with a mobile phone. I ask him what he thinks about the news. “All around the world there are paid hooligans,” he says. “Now the paid hooligans in America went and voted for Trump. The funny thing is that no matter what happens around the world, it affects our market.” But a salesman in another store believes that the fall in the value of the dollar is short-term and that it will bounce back tomorrow. “As it happens such a president can increase the dollar’s value with just one word,” he says. “This is what's good about it.”

Outside the store, people are going about their business as usual. Mohsen runs an appliance store and says he has not followed the election closely. He has heard the news but holds no particular opinions about it. Despite the fact that his son lives in the United States, he believes that Americans have their own lives to live and Iranians have theirs. “Look, we are just trying to make a penny,” he says.

In a coffee shop in the same area, I meet Hamid and Bita. They approve of the election of Trump. Bita puts a hand up to her chador and says, “This is just a game, ma’am. They are fighting over fleecing us. The American policy remains the same.” Hamid agrees with her. “It makes no difference whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. It is only a difference in names.”

Remember Ahmadinejad?

I meet more people in Tehran who are indifferent to the results of US election. Leila is one of them, or at least so it seems. I meet her as she is browsing books in Cheshmeh Bookstore. It is now close to 6pm and this is going to be my last stop. “We suffered Ahmadinejad for eight years and survived,” she says with a laugh. “In any case, Trump is not going to be the president of Iran, is he?” Then she says she’s joking. “Let’s not forget that populism exists all over the world,” she says, “but Trump is not like Ahmadinejad.” How can one compare an American tycoon with Ahmadinejad and his limited perspective, she asks?

“Populism in Iran and in Washington are very different from each other,” Leila says. She reminds me that many Republicans opposed Trump and apologized for him. 

She has more to say about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his rhetoric. “Ahmadinejad said: ‘if tomatoes are expensive, come to our neighborhood to buy tomatoes, because it is cheaper here.’ Everybody heard this but nothing happened. He did not even apologize to people for saying it. That is why I cannot believe that Trump is like Ahmadinejad.”

But then Leila reminds me of the true difference: 

“Many American intellectuals and artists defended Clinton and even insulted Trump,” says Leila, “but it is not like here. Those people would have been summoned to court tomorrow or even harassed or banned from working. This is the difference between democracy and dictatorship.”

A man called Saeed has overheard us and agrees with Leila. “Trump is not that much worse than Bush or Reagan,” he says. “In these 36 years since we climbed the wall of the [American] embassy, we have had crazier presidents than Trump. This shall pass, too.”

Mona quotes her brother who lives in the US: “Though an American president does not play much of a role in domestic policies, he has a lot of impact on foreign policy. The situation in the Middle East is not good at this moment, and Republicans have shown that they like to create big wars. This should be a warning to Iran. Of course the hardliners welcomed the results. But tomorrow they will resume chanting ‘Death to America!’”

 

Zohreh Khosravani, Citizen Journalist