Sometimes nostalgia is not the same as reality.
I have been to Tehran. I have also worked with very nice Iranian pilots while on overseas contracts. I really like the Iranian people, don't care much for their gov'ts politics.
As a corporate pilot, I once flew around the Minister of Roads and Transport for Iran on a few charter flights. While in Tehran, he brought along his CP, who was interested in obtaining the type of equipment we were flying as a replacement for the gov't VIP fleet. After chit-chatting up with him, he told me his pay was around $1000/ mo. This was in 2004. I'm not sure if that is true, and I'm sure $1,000 goes a long way in Tehran. But if you have bills back home in the US, you'll be hard pressed to pay for anything on a grand a month... and this was the CP! I dunno' maybe it's more now. Afterall, that was 5 yrs ago.
Take it FWIW.