It's a fascinating place. It's a great video.
Tehran is a 'mile high' - like Denver - and has the same air quality issues, although Tehran's air looks more like that in LA or Mexico City.
The description of Tehran traffic reminds me of similar description of traffic in Italy, especially Rome, or Greece, specifically Athens.
I'm currently reading Bernard Lewis's "The Middle East". I'm almost finished the chapter on the origins of Islam, which covers some of the early history of the area, the periodic invasions by various groups, and the divergence of Sunni and Shia.
I think people outside (primarily in the west) of Iran need to appreciate the significance of the Anglo-American involvement in deposing a democratically elected leader, Mosaddeq, in 1953, and the installation of the Shah (not democratically elected).
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Most of Iran's oil reserves were in the Persian Gulf area and had been developed by the British Anglo-Iranian Oil company and exported to Britain. For a number of reasons — a growing consciousness of how little Iran was getting from the Anglo-Iranian Oil company for its oil; refusal of AIOC to offer of a ‘50–50% profit sharing deal' to Iran as Aramco had to Saudi Arabia; anger over Iran's defeat and occupation by the Allied powers — nationalization of oil was an important and popular issue with "a broad cross-section of the Iranian people."
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Saikal, Amin
The Rise and Fall of the Shah, Princeton University Press, 1980, p. 38.
ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mosaddeq (neutrality of article is disputed)
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