'We need internet, free life, and we need money': Andrew Callaghan in Tehran
Young Iranians talk about scooter licenses, lost online income and censorship, until police watching one interview bring the filming to a halt.
Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 934,153 views a day, 5.9 times a normal first day on this channel (159,402).
Tehran Streets
Andrew Callaghan has traded the face paint of the Gathering of the Juggalos, the subject of most of his October so far, for the cafes and fashionable neighborhoods of Iran's capital. "Tehran Streets" asks young people how everyday life there works. Twelve hours after it went up it had close to 650,000 views, about four times what one of his longer videos usually gathers in a full first day.
Most of the conversations are about practical things. A young woman on a scooter explains that women were once barred from riding and have recently been given motorcycle licenses. A young man says, "After that, there is no morality police in Iran." Others walk through the ban on alcohol and the underground ways around it.
The internet keeps coming up. One young woman says she lost her entire income in a shutdown because her work happens online. A young man puts it plainly: "We just need internet, we need free life, and we need money." Callaghan sets their worries about work and the future beside those of American Gen Z.
One interview is filmed differently. A photographer, shown only in silhouette and with a disguised voice, describes being tortured after taking part in protests in January. "I think I prefer not to talk about politics because it would endanger my life," the photographer says. In the comments, some viewers write that they hope the people who spoke to him are safe.
The film ends abruptly. Police had been watching Callaghan talk with a young woman about her tattoo, and the filming stops. Partway through, he also introduces something new for the channel he directs, shoots and edits himself: a Channel 5 newsroom in Berlin.
Published on Trari
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- Subscribers
- 3,720,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 5,602,019
- Channel views, pace per day
- 521,714 (on a normal day: 832,037)
- Video published
- October 8, 2026
- Video views so far
- 647,746 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 934,153
The numbers
A long street documentary rarely opens this fast, even for a channel with millions of subscribers.
💡 Test your knowledge
Before Channel 5, Andrew Callaghan became known for which street-interview series?
Callaghan built his following traveling the United States in an RV for All Gas No Brakes, then went on to create Channel 5.