Among the revelers was Ibrahim Yazdi, Khomeini's first Foreign Minister, ousted by Islamic militants after the U.S. embassy takeover. Even before the soccer celebration, signs of Khatami's new Iran were increasingly visible. Cinemas are showing Hollywood films such as Seven, starring Brad Pitt, who has become a favorite heartthrob in Iran. Titanic is a huge black-market hit, available only on pirate videos smuggled from New York City and Los Angeles. Boys are walking around sporting Leonardo DiCaprio T shirts, and girls are plastering their bedrooms with the teen idol's picture.
Women are for the first time exposing polished toenails in public.
The changes are not only cosmetic. Khatami has permitted the founding of dozens of new daily newspapers and weeklies, some of which are tackling once taboo topics like Khomeini's shortcomings and the need for better relations with the U.S. Khatami's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has unbanned scores of books, like Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and stopped requiring Iran's film directors to submit their scripts for advance approval. Students have been granted permits for demonstrations to protest the bullying tactics of Muslim hard-liners and even the validity of Islamic government. Maybe the most remarkable change is in the nation's official rhetoric, so memorably filled with anti-U.S. invective when Khomeini was alive. On the first anniversary of Khatami's election last month, tens of thousands of supporters crammed into an outdoor theater at Tehran University to hear a speech by the President.