Trump's Sanctions Have Forced Some Iranians To Abandon Their Cultural Traditions (HBO)
Posted
February 19, 2019
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169,580
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February 19, 2019
169,580
1,398
1,150
1.50%
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7:04
4:45Now PlayingIranians rallied in the streets of Tehran on February 11, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the overthrow of Reza Shah Pahlavi's U.S.-backed monarchy by supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Since the Islamic Revolution, U.S.-Iranian relations have largely been defined by sanctions. While President Obama offered Iran respite from some sanctions with the 2015 nuclear agreement, President Trump has imposed the toughest unilateral sanctions on Iran to date. This pushed Iran’s economy further into crisis: Since last year, inflation is up almost 40 percent year over year.
Because of the Trump administration’s sanctions, Iranians like Masoumeh Karimi and her son Amir have been forced to choose between economic survival and maintaining their cultural traditions.
Last year, Amir’s grandmother died, so the Karimi’s buried her in Zahra’s Paradise, Iran’s largest cemetery. Now, they’re struggling to pay for her plot.
Most burials in Zahra’s paradise happen in a section where graves are stacked in threes. The bottom ones are given away for free, in compliance with Iranian law that ensures everyone the right to a grave. The Karimi’s took a free grave, but they also wanted to stick to their traditions, which means purchasing the rest of the graves in the plot.
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