Today it is pretty much a Chinese client-state, but the Russians are making a major effort to get as much influence as they can in the place.
That's not necessarily bad.
As far as Iranians using Russian weapons to kill our guys, "W" has it in his power to remove Iran from the face of the Earth and put a stop to that. I would, in fact, encourage him to do so on the slightest pretext.
It was just like the guy had been reading this particular thread.
No doubt he'll be back today ~ so, just in case, here's the answer ~ the qanat system can be quite diffuse, and although a large part of it consists of small, shallow tunnels barely covered by flat rocks, there are thousands of miles of far larger tunnels that are deep in the Earth.
Takes a lot of penetrators to destroy such a system. A FOAB deals with the atmosphere in the vicinity of the qanat system and can make the area unlivable while at the same time sanitizing it of any defensive anti-personnel equipment or chemicals.
Then you send in the troops to clear out the nukes!
Leastwise, that's the way I see the Russian approach to the problem. Penetrators would simply release radioactive waste and possibly create some fallout that'd come down in the Caspian ~ much to the distress of the Russians living there!