Or maybe the problem is they were under duress and had to make a judgment call on what might help their people and made the wrong one. Not that they are completely naive to the cruelty of the empire. There are times in history where strategic retreat worked, so it would not be odd to think it could have bought them more time. The armchair quarterbacking on the fate of a people is easy to do in hindsight, but it’s not so easy to make that call in the moment.

I think Aisha Gaddafi is 100% correct for this specific situation. Iran has no reason to back down and every reason to set the conclusion of this own their terms, so much as they are able. Meanwhile, over in Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez is having to make a different sort of calculus due to not having the military strength that Iran does, nor sufficient help from other countries in the region.