Military dictators rule through strength. One whom chooses to surrender when the war is winnable is one who will end up dead.
This. If the USSR surrenders or even has the appearance of "Losing" to Iran, they're done as a superpower, and the Kremlin knows it. So therefore it comes down to the fact that the Soviet's can solve ALL their Iranian related problems in the course of a thirty second phone conversation. Then the Missile Troops start re-targeting their missiles. If the Kremlin is feeling merciful, during this time it informs Iran that it has X period of time to surrender, unconditionally. Or Else. The Deadline elapses and NORAD shits its pants as several regiments launch all at once, fortunately, they soon determine that the missiles are travelling south... and Iran is done for minutes later. After that, its just a matter of mopping up the remaining rebels and orphaned Iranian units.
The Soviet Union suffers condemnation world wide, but the men in the Kremlin don't care. In their view they have saved the Motherland, saved Soviet prestige and credibility, and ensured that no one, not the West, not jumped up third world nations, will even think about crossing the Soviet Union for another generation. I can't see the US willingly starting Nuclear Armageddon over a client state, though tensions would certainly be at the highest point imaginable during the Cold War as the Soviet Bear starts its slide towards oblivion in the aftermath of the war.
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