Steve Inskeep

As Sanctions Squueze, Iranians Keep Improvising

Steve Inskeep — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:11:00 +0000

Iranians have lived with American sanctions for many years, and we could see the evidence of this when we stepped into a Tehran shop called GM Auto Parts.

It had the famous blue and white General Motors logo, though the sign, like almost everything in the spare parts shop for American cars, looked decades old.

The silver-haired owner, Sadegh Janati, showed us catalogs of cars and parts that he used to import from the U.S. in the 1970s. They came straight from GM, he said, until the years after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, when U.S.

Iran's Election May Not Really Be About Picking A President

Steve Inskeep — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:02:00 +0000

When Iranians vote Friday for president, it will be an election unlike any other.

Clerics who hold supreme power in the Islamic Republic have allowed elections for decades.

But while the people vote, clerics and their allies make the rules. Those already in power choose who can run for office and limit what they do if elected.

Restrictions are tighter than ever after massive protests that followed a disputed election in 2009.

Despite Limited Election Choices, Iranians Eager To Be Heard

Steve Inskeep — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:28:00 +0000

The day we arrived in Iran's capital, Tehran, billboards along the drive from the airport to the city center were already telling us something about what's happening in the country as it prepared for Friday's presidential elections.

We see typical highway signs for Sony Ericsson, but also billboards featuring the face of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.

Za'atar: A Spice Mix With Biblical Roots And Brain Food Reputation

Steve Inskeep — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:10:00 +0000

NPR Morning Edition Host Steve Inskeep recently traveled to Damascus for a series of reports on the ongoing war in Syria. He sent this postcard from the road.

Dear Salt:

On my first day in Damascus, I went walking in the ancient bazaar — narrow stone-paved streets surrounding a great stone mosque. The mosque is so old, it used to be a church during the Roman Empire, and before it was a church, it was a pagan temple.

Inmates In A Venezuelan Prison Build A World Of Their Own

Steve Inskeep — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:23:00 +0000

In Latin America — home to the vast majority of the world's most violent cities — it's said the only part of a prison a guard controls is the gate, leaving convicts to fend for themselves inside, even running criminal networks from behind bars.

I wanted to understand how a prison like that worked, and I was in luck: A colleague knew a man serving time a Venezuelan prison. The prisoner got in touch with the leader of the inmates, who sent word that he'd be willing to see us.

So on the appointed day we drove to the prison in the far western city of Barinas.