"Nothing like Lust for Power"

Akbar Moradi, 38, selling pantyhose in front of the Carat store, on the exclusive Africa Ave., north Tehran. The woman in the back? She wouldn’t give me the time of the day.

“I live in Akbar-Abad, way on the southside. It takes me two hours to get up here. I leave home at 7 and ride two buses to get here. I get home around 8.”

“I make about 4,000 to 5,000 tomans [$4.34 to $5.34 USD] a day. I survive. I got two school-age children at home.”

“I went to school until the 8th grade. I was working at a tomato-paste factory until the drout put them out of business eight years ago. That was the last time I had real employment.

“Getting a job? It’s impossible. If you don’t have a college degree, it’s a non-starter.

“Let me tell you this: there is nothing like the lust for power. Lust for a woman, well, that can be satisfied. But lust for power—there is no end to it. It cannot be satisfied. People will say anything; do anything to keep their power.”