"Oh, So You Are From that Country?"

As an Iranian, I normally have to give a lecture about “why I'm not muslim” and “the reasons I don't support many actions of the regime” after meeting a new foreigner. With Chinese people, it doesn't happen quite often. They react with “you have a very ancient and rich history,” and “Iran and China are brothers” type of comments that I assume are flattering enough to skip the urge to initiate that conversation. With Europeans, however, it's a completely different story. A couple of months ago, my friends' parents came to Shanghai due to the conflict in the Middle East that shut down airspace over the Gulf countries. Giving the war was literally started not by Iran, but by Israel and the US invasion, I wasn't really expecting to comment on "as you know, the airspace was shut down thanks to your missiles," but I had a decent time providing context on the matter and explaining the reasons for why I don't support any wars, which I believe is still one of the discussions we should have…