I was posted to our Embassy in Tehran from 1977-79. I left on March 31, 1979. I was there when Khomeini and the mullahs hijacked the Iranian Revolution and the first attack on our Embassy on February 14, 1979.
I can assure you the mullahs are based in reality. The Iranian people don’t support the mullahs, hence the Purple Revolution and other attempts to replace the current repressive regime. Anyone who knows Iranian history understands the role the mullahs have played in various power struggles through the years.
The Iran-Iraq war provides some insight into the thinking of the mullahs and the willingness and capabilities of Iranians to fight. You are wedded to a caricature of the mullahs and Iranians. They are neither illogical or irrational. The mullahs want to retain power and not risk their own lives in any confrontation with the US. We heard similar pronouncements from Iraq and their threats of rivers of blood. Pure BS.
bttt
I pretty much agree with you here. The mullahs are religious fanatics in that they will never give up on their agenda. But they also know when to beat a tactical retreat. All covered in the Quran...
The Iran-Iraq war was particularly bloody from the Iranian side, I recall. Human wave attacks sometimes involving Iranian children...
But, then again, the whole thing was pretty nasty: Saddam of course made heavy use of chemical weapons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War