[kbenson]

See, natural allies! ;)

Really, the difference here is trust and competence. The Iranian government doesn't seem to have the trust of it's people (that is, trust it has their best intentions at heart), or the competence to adequately hide the corruption. The U.S. is fairly competent at hiding the corruption, and thus has garnered quite a bit of trust. In the U.S. we know we have corruption, but we don't really know how much, because the politicians and the system are fairly competent and providing alternative narratives that make it hard to come to a definitive answer.