> The Russia/Ukraine war has a goal, to make Ukraine either part of Russia or a client state.

No, it has a goal to keep Putin in power.

The Iran war happened to move people's interest from a certain set of files about a certain group people onto something else.

It succeeded by that standard, but now has created the mess that you can't just start a war with a country to distract your voters and not suffer any consequences from it.

Iran was not thrilled to be bombed to play a part in this distraction.