[oldandtired]

There are problems that have clearer solutions when expressed as recursive. There are problems that have clearer solutions when expressed as iterative.

Having both tools in your toolbox and knowing when to use each is part and parcel of developing yourself as a craftsman or craftswomen programmer.

In addition, being able to know when to use memoing in producing your solution is another tool to be put in your toolbox.

Yes, every recursive function has an iterative solution, but the iterative solution can be far more complex. The best example of this is that lovely little function - Ackermann-Peter function. The recursive version is just a few lines long. The iterative version is quite a few pages long.

There are specific schemas in which the recursive form should be rewritten as an iterative solution. You can find these detailed in such old gems of books like "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs".