The US certainly has many issues, but I find calling it a "Police State", while praising the Islamic Republic of Iran in the same sentence quite ironic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera...
Also, the way Iran is today (i.e. not the progressive democratic country it was) is due to the UK/USA replacing elected government with a religious autocrat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...
We could also lower the number of people incarnated if we had public lashings instead, as Iran does.
And hanging people from cranes in public squares...
you mean, praising it as a tourist destination? How's that even controversial? Iran is an absolutely enchanting place to visit.
Now, agreed that calling the US a "police state .. these days" is still quite an exaggeration, but notice the context - the absolutely shocking, police-state-like US visa policy, mentioned in the prior sentence!
You only have to weaken the premise a bit to make it a perfectly sensible claim (and perhaps a bit of rethorical hyperbole is excusable?) : If the authoritarian behavior of the US government forces one to chose between visiting a place as beautiful as Iran, and visiting the US, surely that's an easy choice!