During tense times in US/Iranian relations, I Ran Iran is the mission of two American friends, Tyler MacNiven and Bobak Bakhtiari, as they run the length of Iran , from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, to promote friendship. While they run, Tyler and Bobak connect at eye level and on the road with the Iranian people over the entire span of the country.

The two friends started the run in 2006 but were only able to complete 80 of the intended 1,100 miles before visa complications required them to leave the country. Bobak is currently in Iran working with the Iranian government to secure Tyler's athletic visa so the run can start up again sometime in April, 2009.

Tyler experienced a singular interaction with a country and its people as he walked the 2000-mile length of Japan’s four main islands in 2004 (Kintaro Walks Japan). A couple years later, when listening on the news about more strife in the Middle East, the idea struck him to run the length of Iran and really find out who these people are that we seem to have such trouble with.

Bobak, Tyler’s childhood friend, found joy on foot as a walking mailman in western Ireland throughout 2004 and discovered a particular appreciation for meeting passers by. When Tyler proposed the run, Bobak was excited as he felt the journey would provide a powerful medium for documenting and experiencing the country and its array of cultures.

Bobak was born in California to Iranian parents in 1979, the same year the United States and Iran severed diplomatic ties. Now, nearly thirty years later, with diplomatic relations still in shambles, our two countries are being pushed further and further apart.

As they complete their journey, Tyler and Bobak expect to be joined by surging crowds of cheering runners and villagers enthusiastically escorting them through their towns and cities and across their country. The two will laugh and sweat alongside their supporters and new friends. They will be invited into homes to drink tea, and experience the humanity of the Iranian people. One night they will stay in a four-star hotel and the next with goat herders as the rain beats on the tin roof. They will brave the careening semis of the mountain passes and shield their eyes against to scouring sands of the dreaded Kavir dessert. Their long friendship will be annealed and tempered by the road, the ever-present road, and by the people of Iran.