The situation in Iran is far bleaker than it looks on the surface. I have only recently worked out what happened in Iran myself as I was about 7 years old when it all kicked off. All I remember then was seeing a lot of war and bombs and angry dudes what dressed strangely being in charge of this country.
the reality was that Iran had a very moderate government until the late 1970s. It was more moderate than Malaysia or Indonesia today, western dress, pop music and not much less free speech than the West was tolerated.
In the 1970s there was an oil crisis because the Middle Eastern countries with oil (Iran is one of these) put up their prices. The Americans and Europeans and Israel then used a variety of political, economic and in some cases military actions to cause enough economic and political turmoil in these nations to make them reduce their oil prices (this was what paid for the boom times of the 1980s).
various factions then formed in Iran with views that the current Government was a soft touch what was giving away too many oil resources cheaply to the West. so they formed conservative, nationalistic movements which eventually overthrew the Government.
Think of the 2000 fuel protests in reverse ,and the mob of protestors backed by getting their way… thats basically what happened in Iran 30 years ago. Unfortunately as much as we Westerners might think its a crap way to live, at present it seems good enough for enough angry men to defend it to the last…
