Originally Posted by furloughfuntime

Most of my "you said" statements were directed at Excargodog, who was also quoted, and the other cheerleaders for this war, not you specifically. Apologies for the confusion.

Beyond that what have I misrepresented here?

There is also a political spectrum within Iran; they have their own version of liberals, moderates, and conservatives within their context. Speaking of them as a political monolith ignores the extent to which US actions have given strength to their most fiery fundamentalists at the expense of their more reasonable moderates. Pulling out of the JCPOA undermined the "moderates" over there and has lent credence to their most hard line leaders; if the US won't even uphold it's own end of the bargain, why bargain at all? We have contributed to that "monster" significantly by our own bad-faith actions.

As far as the religious difference between IR and NK, I don't think that point has much salience. The NK leader is viewed as divine as well, and just because Islam has it's own eschatology doesn't make it any different from Christianity. Christianity is equally concerned with bringing about the apocalypse as Islam is from a theological perspective.

Are the generals who purportedly referred to the book of Revelations and the Sec of War constantly referencing scripture in press conferences really that much different than the IRGC spewing their version of fire and brimstone?