I’d rather be in the US, absolutely no question about it.

But does Iran need to suffer less than the USA to win here?

The stakes for Iran and its regime are survival. They’ll suffer a lot of pain if it means staying alive and in power.

The stakes for the US are a lot less than survival, as a nation or as a regime.

Iran doesn’t need to make the US suffer more than Iran can bear. Iran needs to make the US suffer more than the US can bear.