Years ago, when I was milling-about in a Sears store one afternoon, I encountered a blonde, blue-eyed caucasian woman whose conversation in English with another woman carried a German accent.
When I addressed her auf Deutshce, she replied that she just happened to speak German but was in fact Persian.
She had studied German in Tehran, but before traveling [escaping] to the US, had never been outside the country.
At that time, she told me that the average Iranian held greater favor for Americans than the Iranian government was putting-on.
Every now and then, I catch a glimpse of things in Iran which continue to suggest that, but I won't be getting all kumbaya about it anytime soon.