Surprising thing is what took America so long to go to war with Iran .
Yes. When the Iranian students invaded the US Embassy and took the hostages I, together with much of the world, expected Iran to be (in Trump's words) "obliterated" then. The fact that Carter didn't go down that route cost him the election. Reagan wasn't considered a compelling candidate in 1980. However, knowingly or unknowingly, it won the US the respect of the world. It was Jimmy Carter who introduced "Human Rights" as a factor in US foreign policy in 1976/77. By not bombing Iran, as it would have introduced massive civilian casualties, Jimmy Carter appeared to be aligning principle with policy despite considerable embarrassment and cost. This was the beginning of US "soft power", just after the debacle of Vietnam. It wasn't B-1s and M-1s (excellent though they were) that won the United States the respect of the world, it was the poetry and lyricism of the "shining city on the hill".
Everyone has pretty much kicked the can down the road during that time.
Yeah looks like the late Ayatollah and IRGC have met their match in craziness starting in 2016 when crazy Orange took out Soleimani in Iraq. That was the first sign where regime said oh cht lets keep it on the down low. Then sleepy Joe got "elected" and it was back to business for the regime but then crazy Orange got elected again with nothing to lose and regime knew cht was likely going to go down especially after he attack their nuke mountain.Being crazy works in scaring the sane ones, but only until one runs into someone even crazier. Then it is trouble.
