Seaver

Militarily they are. They have very little new weaponry, their army is notoriously bad shots (shooting full auto with the gun over their head... or firing full auto in a bayonet charge).

However socially... well... they're shi'ia. In their religion there is SO much emphasis on self-sacrifice they are worse than the Japanese in WWII. During the Iran/Iraq war they litterally let 12 year old kids lead their army into battle in order to clear minefields.

Now politically... they are once again the paper tiger. Although recent hard lines by the West have helped out the theologists, the VAST majority want freedom, and love the US. There is litterally no middle aged people in the country. There are 25ish year olds, and then it goes straight up to the 60s. Everyone else effectively died during the 10 year war with Iran. The old will die soon, along with them the hard line anti-west, and the freedom loving young kids will inherit. One only needs to see pictures from Tehran, where under the Skull American flags are people spraypainting metallica.

The reason the hard liners are pushing so hard is because they see they're at an end. And as the saying goes "one needs to fear most the lion who's at the end of his days".