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View comments Hide comments. Stay updated. According to Army Radio, the student in question is a Jewish man in his 20s, and he is not suspected of serious security crimes. Convictions for 16 Druze sheikhs who visited Syria and Lebanon were canceled in However, a year later the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a former Druze member of Knesset who visited Syria and met with Talal Naji, the deputy director of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
In Streetwise Hebrew for the Times of Israel Community, each month we learn several colloquial Hebrew phrases around a common theme. These are bite-size audio Hebrew classes that we think you'll really enjoy. This month, we're learning phrases on the topic of strength and power. Should this sound like too much hassle, services like 1stQuest specialize in processing the authorization code and having your visa ready to pick up in person at an embassy or at the airport.
And, what are the chances of being rejected as an ABC? There are also certain occupations which are exposed to a higher risk of rejection such as journalism and the ones related to politics. They will deny your application. In fact, this is what I did. Even though I traveled Iran with Intrepid Travel a tour operator I highly recommend not only for Iran but pretty much anywhere , I had the option of traveling Iran on my own as I have dual citizenship, which allowed me to apply for my visa as a Dominican Republic national.
The reasoning behind me not using the American passport was for ease and economy. With the Dominican passport, I could get a visa on arrival vs. Lastly, the visa for Dominican passports is cheaper than for Americans. Prices vary depending on your nationality. As a Dominican Republic citizen, I paid 70 euros for the visa once I picked it up at the airport in Tehran. All other nationalities who can get a visa on arrival would range from 70 to 75 euros.
I booked my flights with Skyscanner , which I always recommend as it usually shows flights cheaper than on other websites. The visa on arrival usually has a duration of 30 days, though they may give it to you for 15 days, as it happened to me.
Women, as soon as you touchdown in Iran, you must put on a hijab or scarf and be appropriately dressed for the country. Men, you must be wearing long pants. More on this soon. Unlike with flights, booking accommodation in Iran is not as available online. Even though my tour with Intrepid Travel included all my accommodation, I booked my pre and post tour hostel via HostelWorld. It was the only website where I could find a very limited selection of hostels available to book instantly.
For hotels, I highly recommend using 1stQuest , which focuses on booking hotels in Iran and they have a large selection available. They also offer instant booking for buses in Iran, as well as getting flights, visas, and insurance.
Given that Iran is not a hugely popular destination, it is relatively easy to find last-minute accommodation in person as you reach each new city. To confuse this a bit more, Iran refers to its currency in two ways, Rials and Tomans. The government imposes random exchange freezes as it wishes, especially on USD as it happened when I was there.
In these cases, you can either find an exchange house that is hidden enough so they still operate the freeze I did that or exchange at your hotel or with locals I did that too. Locals will always offer the free market rate or close to it. During my two weeks there, the free market rate went from , Rials to , Rials. When buying stuff, locals usually refer to prices in Tomans. So, familiarize yourself with prices to know which value they are referring to. In my case, I only paid for food minus breakfast, since they were included , any additional transportation like taxis to some monuments I visited on my own , some sightseeing, a SIM card, some miscellaneous like tips to guides and laundry , the visa, and souvenirs.
As an example, this traveler has a detailed breakdown of her spending on her two-week independent trip. Trust me, they are all beautiful! In general, public transportation in Iran is very cheap. Iran counts with a decent bus, train, and flight network connecting most of its major cities. Tehran has the largest metro network in Iran and the most comprehensive public bus system in the country.
These are also relatively fast and substantially cheap. To get on a bus or metro you need to buy an electronic card ticket which is sold in every metro station and some BRT station in ezPay kiosks.
The card itself is 2, Tomans and you need to charge the card for further uses. You can also pay cash on the local bus or pay for a single ticket at the metro kiosk.
You can also use Taxis which are more expensive than public transportation, but still very reasonable. Generally, you can get two types of taxis. For the taxis I took in Tehran, I always paid between , to , Rials. The minute taxi ride to the airport cost me 5 Euros.
If you want to move between cities, buses and trains are the common budget-friendly options. Domestic flights are also available for long distances, though naturally, more expensive.
Again, I recommend using the site 1stQuest to book your intercity buses and domestic flights beforehand. Or, you can book buses last minute by heading to the bus station. Have in mind, though, that locals also use these buses, so they might fill up quite often. I recommend checking this article that goes into more detail on bus travel in Iran.
Trains are also a popular option, though usually slower than buses. While they often depart on time, they often arrive late at the destination. Tehran is the main hub of the Iranian train network and most services begin or end at the heart of Tehran Railway Station. There are movable sleeper couchettes with four or six bunks. Almost all trains have a small kiosk where you can buy snacks and drinks.
Overnight trains, on the other hand, have a restaurant car where you can have a proper meal. There are first-class trains like Ghazal, Simorgh, Pardis, Sabz, etc.
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