Lashing out against basically everyone is not "defending themselves"
When my house gets vandalized by this neighborhood rascal, I don't defend myself by throwing rocks at my entire neighborhood
Iran is attacking the military that's preemptively attacked them. It's the US and Israel that have placed antagonistic military installations throughout the Middle East.
It's so funny to me that you compare a decapitation strike with the stated aim of regime change to vandalism; I'd compare the actions taken to Iran in 2025 to vandalism over this.