Funny enough, nowadays Iran is far more free than Russia. They have "some kind of elections" which "within their ideological range" can be considered effective.(Basically as long as one manage to get by the religious control one has a certain chance of actually making it against opponents). And while insulting the religious bodies will surely land you in jail there is far more leeway towards the president - compared to Russia.
Russia is Putlers little bloody kingdom these days.
(And don't get me wrong - Iran is still a horrible, oppressive, theocratic and surely unfree regime that is fucking up the whole region. But that's from a western/northern perspective. If you compare Russia to Iran...well.... One is a tad bit less shitty)
There was one friend who got away. She was single when we met through a common friend group,but she got together with one of my best friends. And while we were close, neither of us overstepped any boundaries. When she later ended that relationship she moved away for Uni. We hooked up a few times after that, but it was always more of a "drunken/desperate" hookup the day after - or that was what we, especially her, tried to tell ourselves,not wanting to risk our friendship.
I moved abroad, married (she was there), got a kid, couldn't be happier. She is successful,but I don't know more about her - she basically cut all contact after we met (for a normal coffee) and I had my kid with me...
Tbh, I still miss her a lot, especially as a friend, but sometimes I also wonder "what if".