Anyway, I can say with what amounts to absolute authority that Americans will never see any benefit to high fuel prices. As it is now, they can’t see what they’re getting out of $3 gasoline when the oil companies are making billions of dollars (answer: a tank of gas) so they’re certainly not going to be able to see that far outside of themselves even if across the street you had leprechauns and unicorns prancing around with whatever the physical personification of a Democratic Iran might be. (Irania?)

The key in this instance is oil-replacement technology (rather than Star Wars). One of those is nuclear of course, but there are interesting developments with sub-critical, Thorium based reactors that not only do not create nasty long-term radiactive waste products and fissile material suitable for bombs, but can actually burn Plutonium. Japan, India (and I think the US) are developing reactors based on this technology, which is being championed here also - Australia has the largest known reserves of Thorium.

As we have seen time and again, it is the sort of behaviour that gets you appeased, so why not use it?

Their power is based on oil, but right now, we are more powerful because we can take the oil away. Once Iran has nukes, they have that power, too. For example: once they attack Saudi oil installations (and why wouldn´t they?) we will see sky-high oil prices anyway. Better if it happens as long there is a benefit to be had.

When their economy gets wiped out, forces much more powerful than the pro-democracy students will turn on the regime: merchants and moneylenders.

Of course, we will never do it.