And not all Iranians are Persians. Iran is an empire in the classic sense with about half the population non-Persian and not too happy about being ruled by the Persian mullahs:
While Iran has long been castigated for supporting Islamic terrorism around the world, they also have a terrorism problem at home. This is a result of Iran still being an empire. Only about half of Iranians are ethnic Iranians (or Persians, as many Iranians still call themselves). The rest of the Iranians are ethnic and religious minorities. It's the ethnic minorities that cause the most terrorism problems. The largest minority, Azeris (Turks) are a quarter of the population. Kurds are about seven percent, one percent are Baluchis, and three percent are Arabs. Another 14 percent are various other Turkic groups, or Indo-European groups related to the Persians.
You'd think that a bunch of nutballs so vulnerable to an uprising of subject peoples wouldn't be so eager to push for revolutions and terror abroad. The regime's support for such things may give revolution some legitimacy at home.
I hope. And I hope we aren't just hoping for a revolution in Iran.
