Iran's Most Beautiful City

A decade ago in 2016 I spent a summer studying Farsi at the University of Isfahan.

As bombs now fall on my old university town, I've been doomscrolling through my old photos and wondering where my friends are now.

Much of this beautiful city - including two of its UNESCO world heritage sites - have now been hit by missiles.

It feels pointless writing about the destruction of buildings when thousands of people are being killed in AI-ordered drone strikes right now.

But I nonetheless thought it might be a good time to share a few of my memories from Isfahan, a city often known as 'Nisf-i-Jahan' or 'Half the World'.

In the 17th century, Isfahan was larger than London, more cosmopolitatan than Paris and richer than both. It is one of the most historic cities in the world and a rival to Venice or Istanbul in terms of layers of history.

Its history is also remarkably pertinent to today, for many of its architectural masterpieces were funded by the Shah asserting control over the straits of Hormuz.

Then, as now, to control Hormuz was to control the Indian Ocean trade.