--- description: If history is a reliable metric, we could expect to see the Golden Arches rise above Tehran sometime in the near-ish future title: Does This Form Mean That McDonald's Will Soon Open in Iran? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71325fd7150003e0/69885b60428a9edf3bcce36d/screen-shot-2015-07-17-at-4-47-54-pm.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Iran](/tag/iran/) ## Iran Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Does This Application Form Mean That McDonald's Is Going to Open in Iran? ## Video: Our food. Your questions. What are McDonald’s fries made of? [Watch (HLS stream): Our food. Your questions. What are McDonald’s fries made of?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nGOOAY0j.m3u8) (5:05)  _Published 2015-01-20. Our food. Your questions. What are McDonald’s fries made of?_ by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 17, 2015 8:57 AM CUT  A screenshot of a page on the McDonald's website taken on July 17, 2015 shows a franchise application form for Iran A screenshot of a page on the McDonald's website taken on July 17, 2015 shows a franchise application form for Iran by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 17, 2015 8:57 AM CUT Despite the misgivings of a Republican majority and the Israel lobby’s tendentious muscle, Congress will [probably pass](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/14/us-iran-nuclear-congress-process-idUSKCN0PO1HJ20150714 "undefined") the Iran nuclear deal. The agreement is a litany of [compromises](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/14/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-deal-who-got-what-they-wanted.html "undefined"), the most dramatic of which being the decision to lift the U.S. sanctions that have left the Iranian economy to wither. In a matter of years — possibly even months — the country could be in for a massive influx of foreign investment. If history is a reliable metric, then maybe we should expect to see the Golden Arches rise above Tehran sometime in the near-ish future. The Quarter Pounder is, after all, the American olive branch: in 1990, as the Western war against communism waned, McDonald’s opened its first franchises in Russia and then China, eager to spread the good news of deep-fried capitalism with the second world. Both countries had essentially closed themselves off to the various indulgences of the West, and so when [thousands of Russians](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amx-JHhtsHw&feature=player%5Fembedded "undefined") lined up around Moscow’s Pushkin Square on the restaurant’s opening day, they did so not for french fries and Big Macs but for “a piece of America,” as John Stanton, a professor of food marketing, [told the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33549187 "undefined"). There was a market for Western decadence, and McDonald’s filled the demand. Same goes with Iran, where _The Simpsons_ was deemed [a national threat](http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/iran-bans-simpsons-dolls-fearing-infiltration-of-western-culture-1.411339 "undefined") and bootleg DVDs sell like hotcakes. When authorities announced the deal earlier this week, Iranian Twitter blew up with enthusiasm about the West setting up shop in the country. “Goodbye, falafel; hello, McDonald’s,” one young woman [tweeted in Farsi](https://twitter.com/negars%5F75/status/620890191897694208 "undefined"). The official word is that the restaurant chain has no concrete plans to open any restaurants in the country. This makes sense, of course, given that the timeline for lifting the sanctions is contingent upon Iran’s cooperation with the nuclear agreement at large. Nevertheless, the company’s website has an [application](http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/franchising/franchise%5Fapplication.html?intlFranchCountry=Iran "undefined") available for those interested in setting up a franchise when the time comes. In the meantime, those in Tehran will have to settle for Mash Donald’s, a [cheap facsimile](http://www.buzzfeed.com/politicallyaff/the-greatest-form-of-flattery-imitation-american-ebwy#.rfNPW30JE "undefined") that happily gives the middle finger to the notion of copyright law. But even when the real thing arrives, the fake may not go anywhere. Consider [Obama Fried Chicken](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/obama-fried-chicken-china%5Fn%5F992765.html "undefined"), China’s ersatz and horribly racist KFC knockoff that managed to turn a profit, even though the authentic Kentucky Fried is the country’s largest restaurant chain. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3962254/mcdonalds-iran-franchise/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3962254/mcdonalds-iran-franchise/"},"headline":"Does This Application Form Mean That McDonald's Is Going to Open in Iran?","datePublished":"2015-07-17T08:57:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:20:50.044Z","description":"Nothing's official yet, but fast-food history could repeat itself","url":"https://time.com/3962254/mcdonalds-iran-franchise/","keywords":["Iran","China","Mcdonald's","The Simpsons","Capitalism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71325fd7150003e0/69885b60428a9edf3bcce36d/screen-shot-2015-07-17-at-4-47-54-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71325fd7150003e0/69885b60428a9edf3bcce36d/screen-shot-2015-07-17-at-4-47-54-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2015-07-17 at 4.47.54 PM","caption":"A screenshot of a page on the McDonald's website taken on July 17, 2015 shows a franchise application form for Iran","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3962254/mcdonalds-iran-franchise/","name":"Does This Application Form Mean That McDonald's Is Going to Open in Iran?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Our food. 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