Photos from Iran's roadside, from Tehran to the Turkish border

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Vendors sell fruit, food and hot beverages along Road 2 next to a billboard depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, right, and his father, slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, near Zanjan, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A cultivated field with a mountain range in the background, seen from a car on Road 2 between Takestan and Zanjan, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) — Vendors sell fruit, food and hot beverages along Road 2 next to a billboard depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, right, and his father, slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, near Zanjan, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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1:26 PM on Thursday, April 9

By FRANCISCO SECO

TABRIZ, Iran (AP) — After five days on assignment in Tehran, the AP team set out by road toward the Turkish border. For nearly 12 hours, scenes unfolded through the car window, everyday moments shaped by distance and movement.

Each image follows the route by its road number, beginning on Road 2 out of Tehran and continuing along Roads 16, 24, and 32. Along the way they spotted: shepherds with goats and sheep, passing trucks, a stray dog, and roadside life in motion. In Tabriz, a man spins cotton candy; elsewhere, a baker prepares bread, and vendors offer fruit, food and hot drinks. Near Golshahr, a quiet hotel corridor is swept clean.

All the while, stunning landscapes stretch beneath wide blue skies, scattered with bright white and darker drifting clouds.

The journey ends at the Razi–Kapıköy border crossing, where the road, and the story, shifts once more.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.