There are probably 6.71 million other places I'd rather visit than Iran. This still puts it ahead of North Korea, but just barely.
What is your opinion about Iran in general?
It's a country somewhere in the Middle East.
The same as I'd feel about any other backward, oppressive theocratic wasteland. Sorta like Kansas without the wheatfields.
I'd rather winter in Antarctica than lunch in Tehran.
Iran/Persia was one of the great culture centres of civilisation -- it was a country that led the world in some aspects of mathematics, astronomy, and poetry. Unfortunately it has sunk beneath the tide of Islamic fundamentalism and is drifting back toward the Middle Ages.
About 1974 when the Shah visited Australia it was my job to provide his entourage with a telecommunications link (no Internet in those days) and although I never met the guy -- I was a mere lackey -- I did spent a couple of hours chatting to one of his cabinet ministers. I liked the man and hoped he survived the pogrom when Khomeini's regime forced the country into obscurantism.
Iran is the land of Omar Khayyam and the Arabian Nights and, for me, it remains a land of wonder. Even so, like the other people who have answered this question, I wouldn't want to visit the place. I understand the hostility toward the West, and the reasons for it which date all the way back to the Crusades. Our treatment of the Middle Eastern countries hasn't covered us with glory.
Rich in history. Poor in current quality of life.
Isolated
Like anywhere else there are good and bad people. I've had few Iranian friends via net and they are all been nice. But the government is my country's enemy and can't stand them.
Once an Iranian friend told me the Islamic motto is just by name and many people aren't Muslims by heart and most people don't really follow the rules. As it all forced on Iranians.
Related to this matter, to me Iran is a very confused country. You guys are suppose to be Islamic just like Arabian countries but here in your profile picture i can see your hair and you barely have a Hijab. I have Moroccan and Egyptian friends. Their Islamic clothing is way too different than what you guys wearing. And it's very confusing to me.
And certainly it's not a place i would go visit nor get near it!
Before November 4, 1979 I knew very little about Iran. As of 7 Nov 1979 I began to study Iran and its people intently. I was a member of one of three teams that studied all the photographic footage that came out of the country concerning the hostages. We were interviewing family members and friends of the hostages trying to determine if any of the hostages were signaling them. As it turned out several hostages had personal family signals they used to project negative answers to questions or the situation.
Those 444 days (November 4, 1979 – January 20, 1981) will be forever etched in my memory.
Hot and sandy. And while I have seen shows and read articles of people who have gone there and say that most people are nice, it is just not someplace I really want to go. I would rather visit the places where my grandparents and great-grandparents come from. And I like to see a lot of greenery.
It's a country with a fascinating history, but the modern nation I'll steer clear of. Considering Iran's former president said "we don't have homosexuals here", I think I'll stay away from a country where the government would prefer me thrown off a building.