Iraq was attacking its neighbors every couple of years, Iran is not.

Iran has shown that it is remarkably sane actually, given the aggression shown towards it by Israel and the US and has made a lot of efforts to reach a deal.

Remember, it was the US that exited the JCPOA and now it wants Iran to give up all its misses so that they would be defenseless.

I have no love for theocracies, but I do think the Iranian system is a lot better than the likes of Saudi Arabia, which we're buddy buddy with.

Oh and I guess the founder of Syrian branch of AQ and deputy head of ISIS running Syria is better that what was before too, in your book?

That all being said, we are talking about different cultures. Iranians are on average more educated than Iraqis were/are, and the country is ethnically more homogeneous.

So I have hope that they'll find a way to organize when the current regime falls.

>What exactly do you imagine will replace the Iranian government that is worse?

A regime that only controls the capital, leaving the rest of the country in a power vacuum leading to internal conflicts and sectarian violence that will eventually spill over the borders into Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq etc...

Nothing at all could be worse!

One of the issues with Iraq was that Rumsfeld didn't want to acknowledge that it takes more personnel post-toppling (to rebuild infrastructure and institutions) than during invasion. It seems like the current government could be prone to make the same mistake.

I recommend anyone interested in this to read Cobra II. It's an excellent book.

Was ISIS better or worse than Iran's government is now?

“ There were non Muslims in senior political positions.”

What are you talking about?

Iraq is >95% Muslim, but there are a few different sub groups. With those numbers there were few in government then and now who are not Muslim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Iraq

Iraq’s Ba’ath party were secularists.

what are you talking about? Iran is a sophisticated country with a parliament and elections, with a powerful civil society. It has 90 million inhabitants. They graduated more women in STEM disciplines than the USA. Yes, it's a theocracy, but it's more free than Saudi Arabia for instance.

Are the Americans going to bomb the Saudis next? or only if Israel ask for it?

No government and another perpetual war zone.