Arbitrageurs

Musandam, Oman, late afternoon, looking east, February 2002

In the eyes of the Iranian government these men are smugglers. They are engaged today in the shipment of used automobile transmissions and engines, from the Eastern Arabian peninsula, where they are low in price, to the Iran where they are high in price. The gentleman in white is Omani, a supervisor, perhaps. After these gentlemen have loaded their boats (all those collected in the background) with the transmissions -- and bulkier though lighter cases of cigarettes -- they and their wives and children will cross back over the Strait of Hormuz, land in Iran, and off load their cargo. This activity is remunerative even when transmissions and cigarettes are shipped via small scale pickup trucks and motorboats, and only manpower is used to load and offload the transmissions.