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The people of Iran are incredibly friendly and generous. This has to be the impression that will remain engraved in my mind... Unfortunately communication is quite hard because most people do not speak English or French. Since the government seems to want to preserve Iran's isolation, western languages are not taught until university. Satellite TV is slowly starting to change that. Although illegal, satellite dishes are everywhere and it seems that they are tolerated — clamping down on them would probably bring revolts to the streets.
The totalitarian regime of Iran is hated by most of the people I have talked to, and no-one seems to take much precautions in saying so. But it doesn't look like there will be another revolution to overthrow the Islamists. I think that the change will come progressively: through elections, most likely driven by women and the youth — 50 percent of the population is currently under 30. I suspect tourists also have a role to play, which is why the government makes it so hard to come as an independent traveller (as opposed to an organized tour). Tourists will go to the smallest towns and villages to see a monument or a museum, after all its why they are here; and they make contact with the locals, exchanging information that is not necessarily in line with the propaganda shown on state-controlled TV.
In Tehran, where I am in contact with people my age, I can clearly see that behind closed doors life is no different than in Europe or Canada. People get together, girls take off the scarf as soon as they are past the door, we drink alcohol and exchange raunchy jokes. But it is important to never loose sight of the fact that as soon as you step outdoors appearances must be maintained. I heard of a guy who left a party with a girl, after they had some alcohol and were stopped at a roadblock. His sanction for drinking was 75 whip lashes. As a tourist, I am less likely to be bothered by the police in the first place, but if caught I face the same sanctions as anyone else.
An interesting issue is how do people meet each other... In the countryside arranged marriages do exist, after all if people can never see each other, nothing much will ever happen. But in cities cruising seems to be a widely practiced activity. There are cars full of girls and cars full of boys driving around well defined areas of the cities, talking to each other through their open windows and exchanging cell-phone numbers. Not that we don't have that in Vancouver, but its much more common here. After you've exhausted your circle of friends and associated people, there are no bars to go to... Women are aggressive here, and they have to be in order to be noticed.