Yes. Same here, and many of my good friends are Iranian. That said, they also told me that Iranians are very competitive and 'have to be the best'. I don't know how that plays out in an Islamic theocratic society, but there have to be enough people there backing the Mullahs or we wouldn't be dealing with Iran as an exporter of terrorism.
From what I gather, the devout Shiite Muslims in Iran are told not to think for themselves as far as religion. They're not to even read the Qu'ran -- the imams tell them what's in it. If what I've heard is correct, it may be that it's most easiest to control the masses who are devout. I've heard that some white collar working missionaries who've gone to Iran as engineers and accountants and such have done undercover work as Christian missionaries. When dealing with white collar Iranians, the missionaries say that sometimes the first tool they use is to convince the Muslims to read the Qu'ran on their own to see how violent it is. That opens them up to wanting something else, at which point they're told about Christ.