He was found to be uncultured when he was caught not knowing anything about European history, opera, art and so on,

You have to send the signal that this is intolerable and counterproductive to Iranian international relations, If you give up on diplomacy, you get into gesture politics, which won't solve anything.

Sectarianism has become a self-fulfilling prophecy,

The feeling is he may be a great governor of Texas, but he shouldn't be in charge of the most powerful country in the world.

In opera, as with any performing art, to be in great demand and to command high fees you must be good of course, but you must also be famous. The two are different things.

You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.