Talked to my girlfriend about your brother’s situation. She said:
Don’t screw around at the air port, and he should expect to be given the “stink eye” (not my words) from the officals perhaps, but people on the street and in general will be very welcoming of him.
Keep his butt out of any sort of protest against the Revolutionary Guard / Current Regime. The locals will tell him this too, he doesn’t want to be The Western Looking Guy starting a Velvet Revolution. Generally, the people there will look out for him and try to keep him safe from anything he might accidentally wonder into, like a protest (or the general area of a protest). It would be good to listen to them.
She said that they are very horrible drivers over there as well, so he would be better riding in a cab.
Tell him to take pictures too, apparently there is supposed to be some beautiful things over there.
The Iranian culture dictates that guests are treated like kings. There is also the tradition of “tarof” which is a code of conduct in which people treat others (especially guests) with extreame, over-the-top politeness.
The political situation there is obviously unstable. For this reason alone one should give pause to living there. We do not know how this will play out.
Iranian laws must be obeyed. You cannot talk to unfamiliar women on the streets, wear shorts, drink alcohol, etc…
If you are averse to air polution you should know that Tehran’s air quality is rock bottom.
I know a person who was actually chased throught the streets of Tehran by an angry mob for being American. Thakfully he was able to get away from them. The thing is the guy is 100% Iranian. The reason he was identified as American is that is an albino! Now, this was in the 1980’s and I wouldn’t expect to see such a thing today, but it does serve as a reminder that things can get crazy. Add to that the fact that the government feels threatened now and is scapegoating foreigners for its troubles.
When I was travelling in Armenia last year I met two young Spanish women living in Iran. They said being a westerner wasn’t a problem there and if I came to visit I wouldn’t have any problems as a US citizen either - apparently there are plenty of them there and nobody really bothers them. So I’d imagine the same is true for a British citizen.
Obviously they did have some issues around the strictness of Iranian law, which applies to everyone. If your brother likes a drink he might want to give it a miss.