Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf was elected Tehran mayor in September 2005 after losing to Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in presidential elections. The FT’s Najmeh Bozorgmehr interviewed him in his office in Tehran on December 24 in his first interview to the foreign press since taking the post. This is an edited transcript of the interview.

Financial Times: It’s over two years you have been in charge of running Tehran. How different is Tehran today from two years ago?