M.E.,
I’m a devotee of Plato, not Aristotle, but I take your point. Allow me rhetorical license?
Your analysis contains a number of assumptions that are not necessarily accurate:
1) You conflate al-Sadr’s movement with the others. HE may be under Tehran’s tutelage, but we have no indication that the other groups are.
2) With all due respect, you am equating Christian and Muslim messianism. In Islamic eschatology the Mahdi’s job is NOT to create a “New Jerusalem” where “every tear is wiped away,” as Christ does in Revelation. The Mahdi’s job is basically to conquer Islam’s enemies and them the entire world and create a temporal ummah BEFORE the end of time comes. That is a big difference.
3) Islamic messianism is NOT “made in Iran.” As I pointed out, MOST Mahdist movements in hitory have been SUNNI! This is a pan-Islamic belief that, while pushed by Iran, is not solely a Shi`i phenomenon–which is why it is potentially so dangerous.
