The Iran war is backfiring: it has strengthened Iran's government, killed off its democracy movement, and left Americans paying more for gas and everything else.

• Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rallied in a show of defiance, with 600,000 signing up for a new citizen militia and weapons training.
• Promises that Iranians would greet US forces as liberators have collapsed, repeating the pattern of the Iraq war.
• Iran's Revolutionary Guard sent a long letter to the American public, saying its anger is aimed at US elites, not ordinary Americans, and claiming over 3,600 Iranians have been killed, mostly civilians.
• The letter's claim that the Guard has never harmed civilians is false — Iran's own crackdown on protests killed thousands.
• The war has also pulled attention away from Israel's push into southern Lebanon and the West Bank, and diesel in the US is now above $6.

Outlook: Iran's government looks more entrenched than before the war started, with no sign the fighting or the price pressure at home is about to ease.