It's a lovely place, and the people are great - warm, friendly, kind... and the skiing isn't bad either. Women are oppressed, in much the same fashion as you see elsewhere in the middle east, which is hard from ideal, but their cultural norms will only adjust through trade and the homogenisation it brings - not through military force or economic sanctions. Their government are a bunch of a-holes, although their foreign policies are readily understandable when you comprehend their geopolitical position.

No culture is any better than any other, indeed - merely different. We should revel in those differences while we still have them, rather than revile them, for, if we don't wipe ourselves out first, we will end up, most likely, for the most part, one people. I like qualifiers.

Oh, and if you really want to understand what the hell is going on in and around Iran right now, read all about a charming little hell-hole called Ashraf.