yeah safron is a Persian staple. I know a lot of Iranian-Armenians and have ate at their homes and they never make rice without safron. They even have cities out there where Armenians are a near majority.
And yeah their political scene/history is so complicated. The Persians are ancient people and islam is a fairly "new" religion in comparison to their history. They were basically hijacked by islam(just like how the rest of the world was hijacked by their respective religions) during the Muslim conquest of Persia. But then islam is what saved their country when it was being hijacked and westernized when the US set up a puppet government and helped put Pahlavi in power, so yea the islamification of iran isnt cool but it's what held on to their culture and is something most people over there are actually thankful for, regardless of how the west tries to spin it. Its a double edged sword.
Their muslim leaders are actually very peaceful and tolerant of all of their neighbors. The dude is a hardcore muzzie but loves Armenians, Russians, Gerogians, Indians, Arabs etc. There are hundreds of churches and synagogues out there, cities that are filled with minorities etc.They even have thousands of Persian Jews that also live in Iran. These are things you would never hear out here out here because IRAN IZ BAD, THEY HATE THE CHRISTIANS AND JEWS AND WANTZ TO KILL EVERYONE.
