2 or 3 high altitude EMP strikes in the Northern US (the magnetic field of the Earth bends the EMP wave further south) would probably cause much more damage than direct nuclear strikes on cities.
The “One Second After” scenario is highly unlikely, so the EMP effect would not be total. It also takes a really large fission bomb to make a strong EMP that can fry circuitry. Can Iran produce a bomb of that size and a lifter capable of getting it into LEO?
There’s still enough of us left from the 1970s and before to kickstart the country even if all the electronics are fried. I know how to rebuild and operate an engine with no electronics, repair a Woodward centrifugal governor, and flash the field of a generator with a battery. Give me a mothballed Naval vessel and I can produce electricity. I am not alone in these skills.
I think that muzzles will go for incinerating a city becuase they are a death cult. Chinese would go for the EMP becuase they are thinkers and planners.