I think that what he means when he’s referring to people turning down “a role like that” in the question about terrorist roles has more to do with what he saw he could gain (“an opportunity to grow both as an actor and as a human being”) by playing that specific character which he saw as complex. I don’t think the answer is referencing terrorist roles in general and I don’t think he necessarily means other actors can’t perform. Though I’m not him and obviously can’t speak for him, this was my interpretation of his answer.

I agree with you about the perpetuation of stereotypes. I can’t think of one Iranian actor (off the top of my head) that hasn’t played a terrorist role – even Shohreh Aghdashloo played a terrorist housewife in 24. I’m not sure if this is more a reflection of the actors themselves or just reflective of the roles available to them – probably a bit of both in varying degrees, depending on the actor.

Maybe that’s something that doesn’t affect him since he grew up in OC, or maybe that’s too much to ask from an actor. Or maybe that’s what he really believes.