I know it's a rhetorical question, but briefly. I ate a burrito in Fort Smith, stayed at a crappy motel by Fayetteville one time in the shadow of Jesus billboards, and drove through Little Rock. It was very "natural".
It was a very average burrito in a sit-down Mexican restaurant, one of those places that has a nice building and atmosphere but seems to cater to a midwestern palate. I think it was La Huerta Grill. Probably would have been better any state to the Southwest of there. Looking at the map now, if I was there again, I'd go to a pupusa place... those are always super good.
To be fair, I bet there is a town named Iran in the US. There’s a Cuba, Bolivia, Lebanon, and others.
Okay, I just looked it up and no, but you can see where I coming from - lots of places named after foreign countries/cities. It probably is stupidity, but with included confusion.
I wonder if it asked them to point out “the country of Iran.”
Of course people also confuse cities and states. Like on the game shows, people will say things like Los Angeles when they mean California, and vice versa.