“We rose early in the morning, went down into a boat, and pushed off for the shore,” wrote Naser al-Din Shah, recalling his arrival in Paris on July 6, 1873.
From the Diaries of Haj Sayyah: “There was music and singing in coffee shops and theatres…. The trees were festooned with green lights…. Young people and children danced…. They enjoyed complete freedom.”
It is an open secret that the Islamic Republic maintains a heavy military presence inside Syria, where for the past decade it has supported Bashar al Assad against an armed rebellion.