Had Jimmy Carter been any part of a president, a single B-52 strike would have wrapped up their revolution and removed any need to invade them now.
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Where would have dropped the nuke?
The world would be a better place today if he had annihilated the entire city of Tehran, inadvertently/regrettably killing everyone in the US Embassy in the process, and telling the family of the American hostages, "I'm sorry, it couldn't be helped."
Instead he showed the Islamo-Fascists that the American government could be cowed by putting a few of its citizens on TV and threatening to pull out their toenails.
And OBTW, one major factor allowing the Iranian "students" to blindside the American Intel community was Carter's Executive Order 12036, which gutted the Humane Intelligence (HUMINT) community. Because Carter, like Secretary of State Henry Stimson, believed spying was a base and uncivilized act ("Gentlemen don't read each other's mail" -- Stimson). Carter believed more modern collection methods (esp. overhead surveillance) eliminated the need for HUMINT.
Unfortunately for America, the Iranian "students" were keen to show Carter the error of his ways.
And OBTW, much of Carter's EO 12036, including the throttling of HUMINT, was rescinded by Boss Ray-Gun's famous EO twelve triple-three.
Or he could have just not betrayed the Shah, and the people of Iran.