I have lived in Iran for 26 years and have never had an issue with taarof. Old people just know I don't do taarof and they're fine with it. Young people don't do it at all. In fact they're so straight forward an American might find it rude (i.e business emails starts with no smalltalk).

The comments about our hospitality and generosity being fake is unfair and unfounded. It's also very self centered of someone to have such claims based solely on their experience and perception. Iran is a big county with different cultures and very different behavior between generations. Do American boomers and GenX behave the same?

The comments about our language not being understandable because of taarof is also laughable. I have never done taarof. My friends and family don't do taarof. My driver and food delivery guy get paid over a mobile app. My barber outright asks for tips. People who have chain migrated out of Iran ages ago and higher middle class people are not representative of all Iranians. We are just like you and everybody else.