Excuse me Little Hawk, what you wrote about Iran is not quite on the money. Iran took over the US Embassy not to set their domestic affairs in order, but because the humanitarian in President Carter allowed the exiled Shah to come to the United States for medical treatment for cancer... which once again shows that no good deed goes unpunished.
Whether Pres. Carter should have abandoned the Shah in the first place is another story; it is my belief that most of the current mess in the Middle East has its genesis in that cowardly action.
BTW, lest you think you detect any sarcasm in this post, I used the word humanitarian in its most positive way.