OK, I'm sure Iran is full of bright, fine people and shithole is probably not appropriate. But the fact that the vast majority of those "bright" people support a corrupt, theocratic government based on Sharia law speaks volumes. But I guess if you ignore that, along with the significant absence of women's and LGBTQ rights, the fact that the UN's envoy on Human Rights has been banned from visiting the country since 2005, the fact that they routinely execute juveniles in violation of all international laws, the fact that the government routinely arrests women's rights activists, the fact that the per capita GDP is less than Mexico's (notwithstanding their vast hydrocarbon reserves), the fact that the country is a major sponsor of pro-Islamic/anti-Western terror, and their government (not their people) is abhorred by all decent western countries, I guess it's not a bad place to live.