Isn't Iran Shia?
Yes, but their government is enthralled to a minority sect that thinks it possible to hasten the end-times. And even the Iranian revolutionaries didn't go for full on unity between religion and state which is the norm in Sunni tradition -- the Caliph is the ruler and the chief interpreter of religious law (which is all their clergy really are) -- but set up a democratic republic that runs day-to-day government, with a theocratic parallel structure that limits who is allowed to run for office and runs a secret police.
Nor do Shi'ites living in Iran typically regard the state religious structure as authoritative on religious matters. Shi'ites chose a particular Ayatollah or Mullah they regard as their "point of reference" on matters of religion and morals and try to follow his fatwas. The most popular even in Iran for years has been the Grand Ayatollah Al Sistani in Iraq, who, on the one hand issues bizarre medieval-sounding rulings on matters ranging from personal hygiene to sex (well, what do you expect, he is a traditional Muslim jurist), and on the other was influential in getting the Iraqis to accept the American-written constitution for Iraq when some of his countrymen objected to super-majority provisions in it as "infidel trick". Al Sistani wisely observed that super-majority provisions were a feature of the American Constitution, and that they were actually a benefit we were giving Iraq.
That feature of Shia Islam, alone, that individual believers pick which religious authority to follow (a rather anti-totalitarian feature -- by definition there is no one central authority dictating on religious matters), along with the fact that the Shi'ites venerate notable religious figures from the past, and have large numbers of pilgrimage sites, not just Mecca, is why I regard Shia Islam as more-or-less a normal religion.
