How well-connected Iranians import their goodies

Hassan is an unlikely smuggler. Affable and a bit nerdy, he looks better suited to his old job as an international public-relations adviser. Now he is one of the many shadowy operators who send contraband to Iran. Some reckon goods worth $20bn-25bn evade Iranian border guards each year. His particular speciality is pianos.Since Iran’s customs authorities banned the import of musical instruments in 2021, the upright pianos that Hassan (not his real name) buys for less than $900 in East Asia go for $6,000 apiece in Tehran, Iran’s capital. Musical instruments are outlawed, possibly for religious reasons; a member of the parliamentary economic committee said that those who want to tickle the ivories “must leave Iran”.