Iran

Ahmadinejad's Old Peugeot Sells For $2.5 Million

Filed under: Auctions

Earlier this year we questioned whether or not a 1977 Peugeot 504 belonging to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could sell for a million dollars. It turns out the answer is yes, and then some. The AFP is reporting that the 34-year-old car worth only several thousand dollars has sold for a whopping 25 billion rials (around $2.5 million) in an auction to raise money for housing for low-income families in Iran. The winning bidder was an anonymous company. The AFP quotes the mystery buyer's lawyer Mahmoud Esari who said that his client bought the car because of a "personal interest in President Ahmadinejad and his spirit of anti-arrogance and anti-Zionism." During his candidacy several years ago Ahmadinejad often appeared in the car to show that he was a man of the people.

Tags: Ahmadinejad, iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, peugeot

Iran's Ahmadinejad Auctioning Off his 1977 Peugeot

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions, Charity

Iran's Ahmadinejad Auctioning Off his 1977 Peugeot

Looking to get your hands on a presidential ride? Well this might seem like a stretch from the Cadillac which Barack Obama rides around in, but it is presidential nonetheless. A 1977 Peugeot 504, it belongs to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – or to his wife, if you want to get technical about it – but it's about to go up for auction.

The vehicle played a key role in the Persian leader's campaign for the presidency, in which he pledged to create more housing for low-income families in Iran. To that end, he's putting the car up for auction, proceeds benefiting the country's Mehr housing project. Given the notoriety of its owner, this particular example is expected to bring in more than the average '70s Peugeot.

Gallery: Peugeot 504

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Tags: 1977 peugeot 504, Ahmadinejad, auction, charity, charity auction, iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mehr, persia, peugeot, peugeot 504

Epicures Rejoice - UN Lifts Beluga Caviar Ban

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

The world's finest beluga caviar will be available once again following an agreement by five producer countries on export quotas for the luxe delicacy, the United Nations' watchdog on endangered species has announced. Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan agreed at a meeting in Tehran on new quotas which will be in effect through February 2011, the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species said in a statement. A temporary ban on wild caviar was imposed in 2001 due to a depletion of stocks amid high levels of poaching and illegal trade in the Caspian Sea. In 2002, countries sharing a stock of sturgeon automatically had zero quotas unless they reached a consensus on a sustainable level of exports. Trade in beluga was halted last year as the countries failed to agree on quotas. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan still have zero quotas, but Iran can now produce 800 kg, Kazakhstan 1,500 kg, and Russia 700 kg. Expect it to cost a small fortune if you're lucky enough to get your hands on some.

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Tags: beluga caviar, Caspian Sea, caviar, delicacy, endangered species, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, sturgeon, United Nations

Mercedes-Benz Archimed Concept from Iran

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Green

When Iran makes it into the media here these days the focus tends to be negative, but not all the news is bad. Mohammad Morassafar, a young mechanical engineering and design student at Azad University in Tehran, has shown that with his newly unveiled eco-efficient Archimed Mercedes-Benz concept. His innovative three-wheeled, two-door, four-passenger luxury transport is named in honor of Archimedes, the Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Fitted with gullwing doors, the hybrid vehicle carries a combination of three different engines, two electrical and one diesel powered. With a hypothetical output of 356 hp it's designed to achieve a top speed of 158 mph. Able to literally turn on a dime and rotate 360 degrees while stationary, it's designed to maneuver in cramped urban quarters.

[via JamesList]

Tags: car design, CarDesign, concept car, ConceptCar, hybrid, Iran, Mercedes-Benz, Tehran

Finalists Announced for Hugo Boss Prize in Contemporary Art

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

guggenheim new york We're a step closer to finding out who will win the biannual Hugo Boss Prize, which is bestowed for achievement in contemporary art. Vying for the $100,000 award this year are the finalists just announced by the Guggenheim: Cao Fei from China, Hans-Peter Feldmann from Germany, Natascha Sadr Haghighian from Iran, Roman Ondak from the nation formerly known as Czechoslovakia, Walid Raad from Lebanon and Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand.

In addition to the cash – and possibly more valuable in the long run – the Hugo Boss Prize winner will also get a 2011 exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York. The winners are selected by a panel of art professionals that includes Ysmil Raymond, curator of the Dia Art Foundation; Udo Kittelmann, director of Berlin's Nationalgalerie and Tirad Zolghadr, an independent writer and curator.

Last year, the honor went to Emily Jacir. Previous winners include Matthew Barney, Douglas Gordon, Pierre Huyghe, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tacita Dean.

Unlike most art prizes, this one stipulates has no age, geographic or medium-specific qualifications. It is as open as open can be.

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Tags: apichatpong weerasethakul, ApichatpongWeerasethakul, art, artist, artwork, awards, berlin, china, czech republic, czechoslovakia, CzechRepublic, douglas gordon, DouglasGordon, germany, guggenheim, hugo boss, HugoBoss, iran, lebanon, legal, matthew barney, MatthewBarney, new york, NewYork, prize, prizes, thailand

Badall Lamborghini Concept from Iran

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Occasionally whiz-kid designers beat the pros at their own game when it comes to concept cars. At the very least they open up a world of possibilities that the car companies themselves may be too timid to explore. (See our earlier reports on the Audi Shark and the Chanel-mobile, for example). The latest entry comes to us from Iran, where despite all the unrest creativity still flourishes. The razor sharp new Lamborghini concept by Iranian designer Emil Baddal is an angular evolution of the Gallardo. It's bound to please some purists and offend others with sharper angles and lines and an edgier ethos all around, as these things go, but we think the Lambo by Baddal is badass.

Tags: concept car, ConceptCar, design, Iran, Lamborghini, supercar

The Changing World of Caviar Production

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

In 2008, it looks the ongoing battles for caviar will be heating up. The fight for the Caspian Sea is starting to get more contentious. In the past, we've mentioned the concerns over the sea and the sturgeon in the sea which are the world's biggest source of caviar. On Monday, Iran firmed up their demand for a share of around 20 percent of the Caspian Sea. There are five Caspian sea states, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. In October, at a summit in Tehran, the five states pledged to work out an agreement to divide the sea but have not agreed on the boundaries yet. Iran's coast is less than 14% of the sea but they think the sea's resources should be divided into five equal portions. The sea is also a source of oil reserves. In terms of caviar the question isn't just access to the sturgeon but also how much caviar, if any, should be harvested. The sturgeon, which can live to over 100 years but mature slowly, are being fished out of existence.

Meanwhile, the black market in caviar continues apace, especially in Russia where the growing ranks of big spenders have an increasing demand for the delicacy. This occurs just as depleted sturgeon stocks have led to bans on caviar. In Russia recently a large crime ring that dealt in illegal caviar was busted. An article in the Independent asserts that most of the caviar sold in Moscow is illegal. The article also states that even the poachers on the Caspian Sea are having trouble making a living.

It is certain that the world of caviar will have to change simply because the Caspian Sea is being fished out. This also represents an opportunity for growing caviar industries in other parts of the world. We've seen a variety of different caviar options arise over the past few years (Check a list of some beluga alternatives i wrote about in 2006) ranging from sturgeon farms in California to paddlefish, trout or salmon roe and even caviar made from seaweed.

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Tags: caspian sea, caviar, expire-images:2008-12-31, iran, russia, sturgeon

The World's Largest Carpet is Worth $5.8 Million

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

The list of "things Iran has that the U.S. doesn't" is a pretty short one, but one item to be found on it would be this: the world's largest handmade carpet. At 60,546 sq ft the carpet is larger than a soccer field and took 18 months and 1,200 weavers to make. Red and green in color, it was created and assembled from 9 individual sections and has over 2.2 billion knots.

So where does a rug of this size find a home? Well this one, worth an estimated $5.8 million, is destined for a mosque in the United Arab Emirates.

Via Born Rich

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Tags: carpet, iran, rug, worlds largest, WorldsLargest

Caviar Ban Lifted in Iran

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Good news for caviar lovers. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has given Iran approval to export caviar from wild sturgeon again. Other Caspian Sea nations are still out of luck. CITES approved exports of up 44,370 kilograms (around 97,000 pounds) of caviar from Iran provided that the eggs cover from Persian caviar, the only species which is not in dire straits. Beluga sturgeon is still banned. Other Caspian Sea nations including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan failed to produce sustainable quota proposals before a meeting deadline and so they will likely remain under a ban for the rest of the year.

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Tags: beluga, caviar, cites, export, food, gourmet, iran, luxury, sturgeon, united nations

Iran

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