Because of a trade embargo, Iranians should not be enjoying Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard printers, or any other American brands. Yet thanks to the close proximity of U.S. commerce partner Dubai, for one, American goods are finding their way to Iranian shelves—and American companies are enjoying the profits. In the September issue of Condé Nast Portfolio, Christopher S. Stewart went inside stores in Iran and traced these products’ path. Here he discusses the story behind this journey.

How did you come up with the idea for this story?
I’d heard reports for years about the weapons and dual-use equipment slipping through the cracks of Dubai and into Iran. So I wondered—if this potentially lethal stuff was going into Dubai and then out to Iran without much notice, what else was getting through? It turned out a lot of American products. And that’s where my story began.

Tell us about one of the bigger obstacles you encountered while reporting the story.
I was detained at the airport in Iran. A scary moment—or moments. I was fingerprinted and asked by police officers what I was doing in the country, and what I thought of George Bush. After about two hours I left with my official guide, but was called back to the airport and led to an almost empty room, where I was told my tourist visa had expired.

There were more questions and talk about relatives and friends who had been sent home or interrogated at U.S. airports. I began to sweat. Did they think I was a spy? Hours passed and at one point I asked my guide what he thought would happen. “It is better not to talk,” he said, looking a little worried himself. “There are cameras here that can read your lips.”

Soon official men in ties arrived; they figured out I was a journalist. More questions about why I was there. Finally I came up with an answer that probably saved me: “Remember when your president came to the U.S. last fall? He invited all Americans to see Iran. That’s why I came.” About a half an hour later, I was on my way.

Was it difficult to report this story?
In general people were suspicious about my questions related to the trade. I wasn’t even supposed to be reporting in Iran. It’s hard to explain, but I felt as if I was being monitored while I was in the country. I didn’t take notes and wrote a sort of encrypted diary at night to keep track of what I’d seen and heard. I had to be careful about what pictures I saved.

The toughest part was getting to places that sold American goods. Why would I want to go to these shops, if I could get the same things back home? I had to be creative. So I played it like I was just so dumbfounded by the sheer abundance of American goods there despite the embargo and it became a kind of game, thought up, in part, by my guide—find the American product. He was very excited about it so it worked out nicely.

What was the most interesting thing you stumbled upon?
Two sprawling and beautifully colored pieces of graffiti on the roadside walls of the old U.S. embassy in Tehran. They were like big billboards, clearly created or at the least supported by the government. The first was a warning: “We Will Make America Face A Severe Defeat.” The second featured the statue of liberty as a skeleton. This defiance is consistent with Iran’s leadership. But locals I met were almost the exact opposite. They were extremely friendly and more than a little dismayed by the political tension between Iran and America. They wondered why we called them all terrorists. “It makes me sad,” one man said. “We are not so different from Americans. If your friends came here, they would see.”