Lessons on Iran for Potential Warmongers

Three major things.

For over seven years, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars, Iran fought Saddam Hussein, with little or no help from the outside world, although Ronald Wilson Reagan, a former President of the United States, did manage to sell them a few anti-aircraft systems in that period.

The Iranians have free elections, where super-majorites (i.e. far more than half, in this case, more than three quarters) vote for the pro-Western "reform" candidate, Khatami. Factually, Iran is saddled with a very conservative Constitution which drastically limits opportunity for rapid change in Iran.

In the late 1990s and 2000-01, Iran was arming and funding the Northern Alliance in an effort to overthrow the Taleban

I repeat, Iran fights Iraq, Iran fights the Taleban, super-majorities of Iranians are pro-Western.