In the old NYT forums...in the Middle East forum, a lady poster explained it to me;
"Dead terrorists do not kill anyone"
"Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their numbers."That was my favorite quote from the Iraq War aftermath. I've lost track of the original source. A smart analyst.
Suleimani was powerful, but had already set up proxy forces loyal to Iran and had done much of the organizational work that can be continued. His martyrdom might be of a more use to Iran than his continued leadership. And nobody does martyrdom like the Shiites.
One advantage Iran has is they know that Trump and the US people don't want another ME war. Iran effectively took down Jimmy Carter and no doubt they are considering ways to thwart a Trump 2nd term. Some kind of warfare with the US probably isn't a great way of doing it. But jacking oil prices up to US recession levels would certainly be on their agenda. Minor warlike skirmishes, another hit on the Saudi oil fields, disrupting shipping in the Persian Gulf. Iran has options.
And if the US hits Iran, US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are available targets (not to mention US troops in some -stans).
Things could get ugly. Could be a lull until the Summer/Fall when the US election campaign is well underway ...