Iran may be run by jihadi nutballs, but people there aren't eager to die for the nutballs' goals:
[Iranian] Government boasts of victories in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, alliances with Turkey, China and Russia to oppose the West plus the end of sanctions has not had the desired effect on most Iranians. Opinion surveys showed that 90 percent of Iranians backed the Syrian operations in 2015 but that dropped to 73 percent in 2016 and is now less than 30 percent. There were similar declines regarding Iranian support for Hezbollah and Shia militias in Lebanon, Syria. Yemen and Iraq. Most Iranians are more concerned with own circumstances, which have not improved much despite all the government boasting of victories elsewhere.
Why we can't wage information war on the mullahs by setting up efforts to praise the price Iranians are paying to achieve their glorious destiny is beyond me.
But I don't understand why we don't do something similar to praise all the non-Iranian Shias who are dying for the glory of Iran's imperial ambitions.
On the bright side, Trump appears to be increasing support for Syrian rebels:
The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State has supplied its Syrian allies with armored vehicles for the first time, expanding support since U.S. President Donald Trump came to office, a spokesman for the Syrian groups told Reuters on Tuesday.
So more can die for the glory of Iran.
Unless this initial small shipment of a handful is just an opening bargaining warning in order to cut a deal with Russia. I hope not. Russia is not to be trusted.
There's a lot of good related stuff at that Strategypage link, too.
UPDATE: Iran appears upset that even though Iran is sowing chaos in the Middle East and advancing their missile program that is necessary for the day Iran has nuclear warheads, that the Trump administration is going to punish them for these non-nuclear deal Iranian policies.
The Iranians probably thought they were clever to keep so many issues outside of the nuclear deal--already pretty darned sweet for Iran--expecting America to go along with those non-deal problems in order to keep the nuclear deal alive.
