It’s easy to get frustrated with Iran’s restraint and want them to do more, and at times arguably it hasn’t served Iran’s interests well, but I would say that much more often than not, diplomatically, economically, militarily that restraint has greatly strengthened Iran’s position.

As you say, avoiding alienating the Arab public is the smart move, it turns them against their own rulers for standing with the US and ‘Israel’ and it creates the opportunity for a better diplomatic settlement in the future. Iran recognizes, unlike ‘Israel’ and the US, that regional and global public opinion does matter a lot actually in a variety of ways - and innocent blood is easy to spill but hard to wash out.