You will find that the people of Iran know that the differences between Iran and the West are all at political level. They love nothing more than chatting to Westerners, and even invite you into their home.
We were invited into a carpet shop by it's owner and we sat chatting about anything from the history of Persia, politics, and carpets (of course) for over an hour. At no point did he try selling us anything. In fact, he said that he doesn't care whether we brought from him or the shop next door.
You'll also find that these countries are a lot safer than the news would let you believe. We left Iran and went into Pakistan along the Afghan border, and even went up to the Khyber Pass near Peshawar (arguably the most dangerous road in the world) and had no problems from anybody. Although that may have been different had we not been under armed escort all the way through