I have Persian friends with very old grandparents, Eli.
Most of them still choke up when they talk about their childhoods (in the early 1920s) in Esfehan: secret police used to kidnap their uncles, rocks were thrown through their homes and synagogues' windows, relatives were murdered for talking with Muslims... and Iran is considered a relatively cosmopolitan nation.
Dont' give me this "they responded soundly to politics" line: Arabs are just as capable now and historically sa their 'virulently racist' neighbors.