Teheran airport - watch out with a Brit passport
 

Getting back to Baku from Oz was a nightmare at Teheran airport. I know, I know...should have gone to Baku direct from Dubai but 500$ saving on air ticket was too good to pass up.
You get off the Emirate plane and walk along to the transfer point (?) and give your passport (British) and proof of ticket purchase to the guard and he disappears upstairs and reappears about an hour later with your boarding pass and you are allowed upstairs to the duty free area where there is no real duty free in sight. And yes if your wife is with you it is very advisable to have her wear a head scarf. Don't laugh and take videos of her at this point because you will get a very cold shoulder later on - believe me.
Thats how it normally works.
So the other day I handed over my British passport plus ticket and asked the guard if he wanted my visa card (a sort of ID card you are supposed to carry on you the whole time in Baku, only I don't because it is to big for my wallet) and he said no, he will come and get it if he needs it. An hour passes and then Mr Official comes up. "Come with me" and "you - hurry up " were the words I heard as he marched me through the terminal, through security and all the gates back to the Emirates flight which I came on (apparently it was sitting waiting for me). So I says " I don't want to go back to Dubai, I have just come from there" "Get on the plane because you are being deported immediately" "Why??" I ask - "because your passport is not in order" Shyte I thinks then hands over my Oz passport and asks "well, try this one" this causes a bit of consternation, so I thinks and BS'ing a bit saying "look if you want another I have a RSA passport as well" I haven't actually, gave that away 20 yrs ago.
"No No - you have no visa for Baku so you still must go" "I have a (effing) visa for Baku, your guard didn't want to take it"
No apology at all and later I gets on the AZAL little thing and as we takes off I lets out a sigh of relief. Had a beer later on that evening.
So now when I hear about the Iran nuke stand-off I can understand the frustration that the negotiators must have with these silly buggers. It would have been so much simpler for them to say "there appears to be a problem - please explain"

Re: Teheran airport - watch out with a Brit passport
 

No intention of going there unless HM needs me to drive a tank column up to the Presidential palace for a bit of the kind of diplomacy they should be engaged in...

N.