All true- and there certainly is good reasons for the ire. But then again, before the revolution, there was (and still is) a huge amount of pro-American and pro-western sentiment in Iran. I was surprised by this travel documentary by Rick Steves to Iran. It was fascinating to see with how much warmth and hospitality he was met with by Iranians on his visit there:
After the recent loss of Iran's soccer team to the US, there was wild cheering and partying in the streets. I don't think this has any precedent in world history, where people cheer their home team losing. But they saw the soccer team not as their own, but as representative of the regime, and were chanting "they lied to us that America was the enemy. The real enemy is within."
Iranians defied the country’s leaders who have attempted to use the tournament to rally support for the regime after months of protests.
www.wsj.com
Hard to say, of course. But democracies on the whole tend to be much more stable and less prone to war and belligerence.