OK, I'll entertain you. I work with a guy who is of Persian ancestry. He is old enough to remember living in Tehran, and he says life there was great. If he were still there, he would be living like a prince. However, he left Iran on the last Pan Am flight from Tehran. I suspect he is romanticizing things to some extent. My coworker definitely thinks Iran was better off with the Shah.
He did tell me one story I take at face value. His uncle went to mosque for the five daily proayers, and sent my coworker to Koran school as a youngster. At the same time, this uncle told him to never believe that mumbo-jumbo. Uncle's observance of Muslim rituals were just for show, to keep him out of trouble with Muslim society.
I'll give you a more recent example of how things are already changing back: my neighbors are Iranian emigres from the 70s. Their 18 y.o. son was just there during the Xmas holidays for a month. He says that it is very cosmopolitan in Tehran, with young folk everywhere on the street - sort of like a New York street scene.
He mentioned the only visible difference from the US is the number of soldiers on the street. But since they're all green kids as well, he attributed it mostly to the draft and poor economic opportunities.
When I talked to him and his mom after he got back, he seemed pretty matter-of-fact that the theocracy had no future. When half the pop. is under 25 and LIKES America, it doesn't take a genius to forsee the future.