Since apparently it's easy to know what would happen in different hypothetical worlds, I think it would have been better if USA had not overthrown Iran's democratically-elected anti-communist-and-gradually-less-monarchist government in 1953. Even bloodthirsty warhawk Madeleine Albright admitted it: "the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development." [0] It was also bad when USA paid Saddam Hussein to instigate a bloody war with Iran, so skipping that would have been a good idea.
But we don't have to imagine a different world. Even with Iran's shortfalls in democracy, their leadership is better on most measures than USA's allies in the region Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, etc.
But we don't have to imagine a different world. Even with Iran's shortfalls in democracy, their leadership is better on most measures than USA's allies in the region Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, etc.
[0] https://1997-2001.state.gov/statements/2000/000317.html