They have been saying that since the 1990's. We've constantly been told that personal hardware would be pointless and everything is going back to old school server-workstation architecture, and it still hasn't happened.
"He'll be milquetoast and set it up such that the theorcracy can agitate and con it's way back into powe within a few years."
Is he milquetoast or can he set it up so the theocracy can come back? Seem like mutually contradictory things.
Anyway, the Iranians want the Shah. There is no organized internal opposition force, he's moderately well-respected, he hates the theocracy (so why would he reinstate it?), and he's pledged supporting democracy.
The Sam Altman types, and the Thiel/Musk types especially, want technofeudalism with them on top. For some of them the "good of society" factors in but it is always after this.
We would certainly be at a disadvantage if Russia was able to copy rockets that constantly blew up shortly after launch.
It's currently a problem of access to gigabits through punybaud. -- J. C. R. Licklider