Come to think of it, someone should tell the Aryan Nation that their name might as well be “Iranian Nation”.
Heh, I know you jest, but oddly enough the Perisans I’ve known tend to like Jews a lot. I think it is because of shared cultural values - aside from the whole Zionism thing; and even on that, they are sorta ambivalent.
I used to frequent a fast mart that was owned by an Iranian couple. I commented on the wife’s jewelery one day, and she informed me that she got it on a trip home to Persia. I asked her did she mean Iran. No, she was very definite about going to Persia.
I got the feeling that she felt customers would be upset if they knew that she went to Iran.
On a side note, I quit going to the store when I learned that her husband would cheat the customers when selling them lotto tickets.
Just adding to the anecdotes-- used to live in a part of Toronto with a large Persian population, and as far as I could make out, it was always “Persian”, never “Iranian” – why, I cannot say.
That’s not bad, but I have to say those paintings just can’t compare to some of the classic Persian illustrated manuscripts, like the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp. 
Iranian comedian Omid Djalili on the difference between Persia and Iran
“Persian cat, so sweet, not an Iranian cat, has a bomb under the bodywarmer!”
They are beautiful indeed. Thank you for the link.
I’ve seen work by several different Iranian/Persian contemporary artists and their style was pretty similar to that of Sabzi. Enough so that I’ve wondered if that’s a common contemporary style in Iran itself, or whether one of these artist developed the style and the others followed, creating a minor clique of artists with that unique style. You wouldn’t perhaps know, would you?
Afraid not. I once took a seminar on Persian manuscripts, and that’s the only reason I knew about the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh. Don’t know anything about contemporary Persian art.
Bump: For anyone who’s interested, Rick Steves, the Public TV travel guy, just did a special on Iran. More info here; for airtimes, see here check the schedule of your local PBS affiliate. I just watched it last night; pretty good show. Made my girlfriend a little homesick.
My sister-in-law’s brother’s wife is Iranian and she called herself Iranian. She’s a wanabee Indian though (her husband is Indian)
Regarding Aryans, well north Indians are Aryans too!
That’s what I was thinking.
That’s kind of funny, capitalizing off of Western Orientalism.
That guy’s hilarious!
“An Englishman, and Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a bar. For you that’s a joke, for us that’s a hostage situation.”