I've heard the language spoken by a native. It is beautiful.

I've always been a bit askance that I was ignorant of the CIA putsch over Mossadegh until the turn of the millenium when All the Shah's Men was published. I'd gone to a university with many Iranian students, whom I often ate with since I lived in an International House. They tried to teach me Farsi tongue twisters. I'm positive that every one of them knew about Mossadegh's overthrow.

Nevertheless, the Ayatollah was way worse than the Shah, and his inheritors are no better than he was.