Analyst's note: To know the mind of Iran's current leaders, we must understand their teaching regarding the return of the Mahdi or 12th Imam.  I simply can not recommend strongly enough that you read "Shariah, the Threat to America: An exercise in competitive analysis, Report of Team 'B'" II

"A documentary that ties the current events in the Middle East to the soon coming of the Islamic messiah figure known as the Mahdi has just been released in Iran. The video contains one of the most overt calls to war yet seen in the Iranian media [....]