Si-o-se Pol Bridge and what was the Zayanderud river
Tehranis and Isfahanis don’t really have a problem with each other, but their strong pride in identifying with either Tehran or Isfahan has created a rivalry between Iranians. My family lives in Tehran–We are Tehrani. In the United States, there is constant bickering between Tehranis and Isfahanis, who always argue that their city is better than the other. Well, I had the chance to visit Isfahan and judge for myself which city is better.
Si-o-se Pol Bridge
Isfahan is well known for its beauty and lush environment. When you first drive into the ancient city from Chahar Bagh street, on your right will be a seemingly endless row of small stores, and on your left a park bordered by trees that provide a much-needed shade in the smoldering dry summer heat. Already you notice how remarkably more green Isfahan is than Tehran, a more modern metropolitan city with only pockets of green here and there. After a 5-hour road trip from Tehran to Isfahan, our first stop was to see the historical bridge Si-o-se Pol. It is one of Isfahan’s 11 bridges, but is the longest one crossing the Zayanderud river.
Except there is no river.
What remained of the Zayanderud was a swatch of dry, cracked dirt with bits of grass sticking out throughout. Nearby laid an old boat rental station. The boats sat there neatly in a row. The owner was either too lazy to move them, making a statement, or hopeful that the water would soon return. The Zayanderud river has been without water for almost 5 years now. The official explanation is that the water dried out because of the region-wide water shortage due to climate change and declining rainfalls throughout the year. However when you ask Isfahanis where the water went, they will give you an entirely different story.
Boat Rental Station at the Zayanderud River
During his presidential campaign in 2009, incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to the capital city of the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Shahrekord. Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Shahrekord and Isfahan belonged to the same province. Since then they have been separated into their own provinces, and like Tehran and Isfahan, adopted a rivalry with each other. Seeking votes for his re-election, Ahmadinejad told Shahrekord that the water that flows into the Zayanderud river belongs to them. Shahrekord subsequently built a dam, and offered to sell the water to Isfahan. Isfahan, believing that no single city could possibly “own” water, rejected to buy it. Shahrekord instead sold the water to Yazd and Kerman, and blocked off the water from Isfahan. Without a steady flow of water from the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, the water in the Zayanderud river dried up over time. Ahmadinejad gained popular support from Shahrekord, which would later help him maintain his seat.
Contrary to popular belief, Ahmadinejad was very popular in Iran. He, in a sense, was the marginalized, and the lower-class’s Robin Hood who prioritized their needs over the needs of the middle-class. He was famous for traveling to smaller cities like Shahrekord and handing out money, ordering the construction of much-needed infrastructure and fixing what needed to be fixed. It typically came at the expense of the more well-off population, like that in Isfahan who overwhelmingly voted for his reformist opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
The Zayanderud river remains without water. The Isfahani government has said it plans to dig a tunnel to another water source, but Shahrekord has pledged to bomb it if it does. While I have not been able to confirm these stories online about the seemingly water-politics of the Zayanderud river, I feel confident that there at the least must be some truth to it, because of the consistency of the stories by the people I have talked to, both in Isfahan, and Tehran.
Even without the Zayanderud river, Isfahan is undoubtedly more beautiful than Tehran. But there’s something about the liveliness of Tehran that makes me want to stay there. The hustle and bustle of life, the seemingly endless possibilities of what to do and see there, and metropolitan character is something I personally prefer. I won’t deny that there’s an absence of beauty in Tehran, but with the empty Zayanderud river and the obsolete bridges in Isfahan, you can’t deny that there’s also a more apparent absence in Isfahan, which is, afterall, known for its beautiful landscape.
My Middle-East Chronicles 