Iran was once controlled then ex-NSA Jim Stone found his conscience and exposed CIA operations in Iran (read from halfway down the page - 'So what really happened' https://www.voterig.com/.um3.html)
A controlled entity would not have been able to seize US ships, force them to surface (twice) or repel Israel's constant sorties.
Iran is one controlled boogeyman just like Ukrane is and North Korea was. None of them are the lynchpin.
They are saving the lynchpin for last because the lynchpin is nuclear armed, and it is going to take an aligned world to bring them to heel.
Iran was once controlled then ex-NSA Jim Stone found his conscience and exposed CIA operations in Iran (read from halfway down the page - 'So what really happened' https://www.voterig.com/.um3.html) A controlled entity would not have been able to seize US ships, force them to surface (twice) or repel Israel's constant sorties.