Another thing that the media likes to portray is that the Iranians are just a bunch of radical Islamists when the Iranian population is one of the best educated in the entire Middle East.

And let's not forget that the US provided chemical weapons (a.k.a. WMD's) and intelligence for Saddam Hussein to use against Iran.

And last, but not least, giving your population an evil enemy to hate and fear keeps their attention off of what a mess you've made of the economy,