July 19, 2019
US sanctions are supposed to keep US products out of Iran, but more than half the sodas sold in Iran even today are Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Even such a narrowly-appealing product as Tabasco sauce from the bayous of Louisiana can be found in Iran.
Whether at upscale restaurants or corner stores, American brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi can be seen throughout Iran despite the heightened tensions between the two countries, The Associated Press reports in a special review it conducted.
Western food, movies, music and clothing are still widely available. And, 40 years after the Islamic Revolution and the takeover of the US Embassy, despite billboards and rallies declaring “Death to America,” Iranians — particularly the young — still enthusiastically embrace US products.
“The American lifestyle is very attractive,” Ahmad Rezaee, a 21-year-old student at Tehran University, told the AP as he drained two bottles of Coke.
Drinking a “Coca” or a Pepsi after eating kebab comes as second nature, though the soft drinks don’t taste quite as syrupy or sweet as their American counterparts, suggesting the local bottlers are diluting their products.
Both brands are bottled by local firms, Khoshgovar Mashhad Co. for Coca-Cola and Sasan Co. and Neysun Sharq Co. for Pepsi, which are affiliated with the Imam Reza Foundation in Mashhad.
Coca-Cola held a 28 percent market share in Iran, according to a 2016 report by research firm Euromonitor International, while Pepsi had around 20 percent, leaving Iranian soda brands far behind.
Asked about Coca-Cola sales in Iran, the Atlanta-based company said it had sold concentrate from its Irish subsidiary to Iran for more than 20 years in line with US sanctions policies. “The authorizations are very restrictive in nature,” Coca-Cola said. “The company does not have any ownership interest in the Iran bottler and does not have any tangible assets in Iran.”
Pepsi did not respond to AP’s requests for comment.
The McIlhenny Co. of Avery Island, Louisiana, the maker of Tabasco, said it “expressly prohibits its distributors from reselling Tabasco brand products in Iran…. Unfortunately, as is the case with all manufacturers, McIlhenny Co. has only a limited ability to stop illegal third-party distribution networks from secretly diverting our products to Iran and often must rely on US agencies and law enforcement to identify front companies and individuals engaged in sanctions evasion,” CEO Harold Osborn told the AP in a statement.
At V Cafe near Tehran University, diners drank Coca-Colas and lathered their food with Heinz ketchup and other American condiments as videos played on a giant screen of travel destinations from around the world. Rezaee and a friend, Sima Najafzadeh, a 21-year-old fellow student, each drank Cokes, saying they enjoyed the taste. They also would like to see more iPhones plus McDonald’s restaurants and other trappings of Americana.
“We love Americans,” Najafzadeh said.
That goes for American films as well. Rezaee acknowledged having to find a pirated copy of “Avengers: Endgame” online as it never played in Iran. Others without a strong Internet connection can find recently released films like “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” for under 40 cents apiece on Tehran’s busy Enghelab Street, where hawkers also sell portraits of a young Al Pacino. Western pop and rock music seeps out of the occasional passing car.
Iranian state television channels even air older American movies dubbed in Farsi. The 2000 Dennis Quaid film “Frequency” was on one recent night.
At the city’s Grand Bazaar, a beach towel showing Mickey Mouse with a surf board hung on one rafter. Stacks of blue jeans were also on offer, but American brands like Levi Strauss have largely disappeared in recent months as Iran’s currency has plummeted.
That’s been a boon for the Par Group, a local jean manufacturer that produces some 3 million square meters of jeans a month from locally sourced and foreign material. Sales associates at their shop in the Bazaar acknowledged the product’s roots in American cowboy culture but said jeans remain popular on the streets of Tehran.
“All over the world, people want jeans,” said Amin Moradi, a salesman at the shop. “Iranians are very fashionable.”
At Tehran’s massive Iran Mall, a store called TOMSon sells what appears to be the eponymous slip-on Toms shoes. The firm did not respond to requests for comment.
Of all the American imports, the most unlikely might be the Tehran Research Reactor, a nuclear gift from America that arrived in 1967 as part of its “Atoms for Peace” program, and which still runs today.