This is heading into World War III, IMO.
These people are the ones who held the Americans hostage and are now back in power and intend to finish the job they started.
This is going to be really, really bad.
I agree. It's a nuclear freight-train...at full throttle.
Could be. If it comes to war, the immediate use of overwhelming force is the only thing standing between us and the overnight dismantling of everything we see about us. Our personal daily routines can easily become disrupted permanently, which we all know, but this can also happen to all at once--nationwide and worldwide. If the war goes on for any length of time others will be drawn in and that will change everything suddenly, massively, and forever.
The time is nearing to crush the buggers.
Could be -- but "asymmetrical war" works both ways. I'm guessing (based on little more than impressions based on various articles I've read) that there's more than a little internal instability in Iran. The "apparent power struggle" is just one thing. There's also a great deal of financial instability, and I think the neo-Taliban crackdown is both a symptom of previous unrest, and a precursor to more unrest.
Our "assymetry" -- or better, the Russians', since they've got a lot of experience in it -- would be to feed that unrest, in order to take down the mullahs once and for all. I think it'd take a lot less than folks think.
I am compelled to agree. The asymmetrical aspect is interesting. However, it seems to be a war of "wills". We have the will to win. Who will step back from the precipice?