Earlier quoted context omitted.
To win the war another time, I guess ? To be fair, he told us we would get "tired of winning". On a more serious note : could it be that iranian air defense is being supplemented by an ally ? Someone further east ? Or, simply, that they kept some reserve to keep the war long, and play with the American customer's never ?
Why make up unsubstantiated claims about Chinese support, when it is known that Russia supports Iran with military hardware?
Contrary to popular belief, Iran's most important arms supplier has been China, and not Russia, in the last decade. To preserve its ties with Israel and Saudi Arabia, Russia has sometimes compromised arm shipments to Iran. Historically too, Russia has worked with France and Britain to undermine Iran, through the Shah.