Pulling the pin on Iran

It's not really fair to Iran for this to be the last picture I post before I fly back to Cairo - not fair on a country whose people have offered me tea, bus tickets and, memorably, the food on their forks.

But hey, I've posted a pic of one of the greatest exports, Persian carpet, here's the other: Persian propaganda.

The 'Death to the US' murals are written on the walls of the former US Embassy, just up the road from my hotel. Word is that the hardline troops that have been occupying this prime piece of real estate since the 1979 revolution are getting ready to move, as relations with the US soften to the point of positive gooeyness, particularly with the possibility that the reformist candidate, Musavi, might topple Ahmadinejad in the elections later this week.

The streets are heaving with campaigners, which culminated in sheep being sacrificed for Ahmadinejad yesterday and a rather staid gathering for Musavi today in a large office block, due, it's said to the fact that the government (ie Ahmadinejad ) wouldn't give him permission to have a public rally.

I spent my last day cruising the fashionable streets of North Tehran, snapping the old US Embassy and finally visited the carpet museum. So that's a nice note to end on, with a nicer pic too. See you all in Cairo, signing out from Tehran.