Half of what you wrote, albeit romantic and all, doesn't even apply in this situation. Iran was operating in Iraq, outside of its own territory, and had been for many years indirectly or directly behind countless Shiite terror attacks against US and its allied troops across the ME. This is a guy who orchestrated the deaths of countless civilians and military personnel alike, and was allowed to operate with impunity for decades.
Imagine that Chinese troops were sent abroad to protect B&R infrastructure projects, only to have 608 of them maimed or killed through attacks sponsored by a third-party terror group. Now imagine that this terror group was led by a singular "commander" who is arrogant and comfortable enough to carry out his evil deed without so much as shrugging at the possibility of a PLA reprisal. How much "rage" would you have then? The Chinese brass would have no problem sending in a CH-4 to blow the terrorist's brains out.
In fact, they almost did in real life when a drug dealer kidnapped a few Chinese sailors along the Mekong River.
This is nothing like the "underdog vs superpower" showdown that you wish it to be. This was a leader of a globally-designated terror organisation that was in the process of planning for further attacks against American military targets and who defied any iota of morality or humanity during his reign as a military general.
This terrorist dirtbag thought he could snip away at American military might and get away with it and made a wrong bet.
First of all, you cannot compare China to America because China is invited into every country we are in while Americans pick on and invade those too weak to defend themselves. The former, of course, deserves a guarantee of safety while the latter deserves nothing except the point of a spear.
The General cared not whether he can "get away with it" but knew that his mission in life is to defend his country against the global terrorist threat encroaching on the middle east. You don't understand Iranians; "get away with it" is an American concept from US soldiers who want to kill other people then count on going home to live a comfortable life. Iranians do things because they need to be done; if they "get away with it," then they live to serve their country again; if not, then they meet God. You'd think this would be clear after seeing 10,000 Iranian students enroll in nuclear physics after their scientist was assassinated. They don't want to "get away with it" like American criminals do; they want to make a difference for defending their country no matter the cost or sacrifice. This is a concept so foreign to Americans that they can't even see it when laid out before their eyes and they keep ratting off about "(not) getting away with it." LOL
The American global terrorist kills people in their countries and calls them "terrorists." It barges into countries uninvited, stays, and attacks the allies and legitimate guests of the host nation. It tries to rob and steal ships on the high seas and disrupt economic development of countries that hold different world views. This is the biggest terrorist in the world; everything else is a detail. I have absolutely no sympathy for any American soldier killed unless on American soil. America's global terrorism is more than enough justification for every action against it in the past, present, and future. The world can only be right when the US leaves all foreign territories including the middle east, stays home, and shuts up, and anything done to push them back can only be considered defense and counter terrorism. And even then, there would still remain the matter of settling America's debts for all the evils it committed while it was in power.
There will be no terrorist nuclear threat because the United States will never allow there to be one. You can bet that as soon as US sniffer aircraft or satellites begin detecting the beginnings of a nuclear weapons program, Iran's nuclear facilities would be flattened without so much as a Trumpian Twitter warning.
Hahaha, the US once said China could never be allowed to have nuclear weapons. Then, North Korea. It once even said that the Philippines would never be allowed independence from the US. If I was a betting man, I'd pay attention to that trend. Iranian technology only moves forwards, not backwards. America's dreams of keeping tech out of people's hands, whether it be nuclear weapons from Iran or semiconductor tech/supercomputer chips from China, can only fail in the end.
And there already is a nuclear terrorist threat on this world; it was the only country to use a nuclear weapon against civilians and has nothing to do with Iran.
