[pseudohadamard]

It's not just that, the entire Iranian government setup is designed to make it as difficult as possible to get rid of them. Their government isn't built around checks and balances or the other usual things, it's a group that came to power through revolution and have done everything possible to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to them. The result is a baroque interlocking system of councils and bodies and roles without any single point of failure.

Which any career diplomat and analyst in the USG would have known, but clearly came as a complete surprise to a motley collection of reality TV stars, religious nutcases, and former Fox news pundits.