AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
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.
It's funny since you romaticized and taunted Hong Kongers being able to carry out the very drone terrorist attack on Saudi Arabia being used against China that the US is using as an excuse for military action. I guess you haven't heard that Chinese have been attacked on OBOR projects. I don't see China attacking other countries for it. When are Hong Kongers going to protest Americans violating the human rights of those Iraqi protestors outside the US embassy for using tear gas on them? Iraq has many parallels to Hong Kong where the majority Shia population want the US out of their country. It's the US against what the majority wants. I'm not suprised by the hypocrisy.