Iran undergoes dual radicalization — Shia eschatology and Persian exceptionalism

The war pushes both Iranian camps to extremes: the Islamic theocracy radicalizes into full Shia eschatology (12th Imam Mahdi returning to fight the Great Satan) while secular nationalists radicalize into Persian exceptionalism (Persia as the greatest civilization worth dying for); the key question is whether these two camps reconcile or trigger an Iranian civil war