Iranian sabre rattling more about their internal fears?

The Iranian leadership is turning up the heat at the moment.  First there was the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route, which led Philip Hammond to issue a strongly worded warning last week.  Today I read that the Iranian government have issued a death sentence to someone they describe as "an American spy" knowing that the USA won't take it lying down.

So we ask ourselves "what are they trying to achieve?", I'm pretty sure that they don't want to start a war, and neither do we or the Americans.  So I'm drawn to the idea that it is more to do with an internal show of strength.

The Arab Spring must have sent a shock wave through the Old Guard in Tehran, and with the blogging community very active in Iran (Persian is the second most popular language for blogging) and elections in the near future it is probably useful having a powerful enemy to "protect" your people from.

Let's see how this pans out once the elections are over.