But they didn’t go off buying Gucci and Versace. They went to Payless and Walgreen’s for shoes and shampoo, in what appeared to be a statement on how badly things are going back in Tehran.
It was the New York Daily News that put three reporters on track of the Iranian aides as they went “scouring the town for low prices,”
“Since they are under sanctions, they can’t get this stuff,” a man assigned to work with the Iranians told the Daily News last Wednesday. “. . . (And) their money is weak compared to the dollar.”
One Iranian visitor debated dropping $40 for a pair of kids’ shoes at a Payless on Fifth Avenue before finally springing for the footwear, the delegation insider said. The inexpensive footwear was enough to almost empty the Iranian’s wallet.
The trip to a Harlem Costco secured an assortment of wholesale shampoos, while a drugstore visit brought more than a dozen bottles of vitamins and Tylenol.
The Daily News said Ahmadi-nejad himself wasn’t spending his time on bathroom staples. “Three personal chefs were at Ahmadi-nejad’s beck and call, and the Iranians booked two full floors in the luxury [Warwick] hotel, where suites can go for $1,600 a night, according to a hotel employee,” the Daily News reported breathlessly
The newspaper said the president’s cooks came from Iran and brought their own food into the hotel.
Outside the entrance to the Warwick, visitors were required to pass through a metal detector and run their bags through a screening machine.
The Daily News said Ahmadi-nejad entered and departed the hotel via a security entrance covered by a white tent, offering passersby little more than a glimpse as he whizzed by.
Tourist Susan Meares, 68, of Sydney, Australia, found the whole thing a bit difficult to endure. “I think the staff were really fed up,” she said. “The whole place is flooded with Iranians. And the security — it’s horrible.”
A 40-year-old visitor from Germany was equally spooked. “I thought somebody would throw a bomb or something,” she said. But she was impressed by most members of the Iranian entourage when she met them in the hotel. “They were very nice people, especially the ladies,” she said. “When I said, ‘Where are you from?’ they said, ‘Persia.’ They didn’t want to say they were from Iran.”
In Tehran, Mansur Haghighatpur, vice chairman of the Majlis Committee on National Security, sniped: “Many . . . have only traveled there for a picnic.”
The delegation insider disagreed, saying the guests wanted no part of jewelry stores, boutiques or high-end retailers. Instead, they preferred any drugstore where they could stock up on over-the-counter medication.
“They spend their day buying a lot of medicine,” he said.
The cut-rate shopping sprees come despite an assortment of landmarks in the city. The Iranian visitors did make a sightseeing trip to one unlikely destination, however: The Statue of Liberty. they’re having a good time here,” said the insider. “Especially the families. For them, it’s like a vacation.”