I don't buy some of this rhetoric which is peddled by the likes of the college of knowledge and defence industry in whose interests it is important to portray the Iranian government as madmen, so they can sell more weapons and technology.
It would be utter lunacy for I'm a dinner jacket to lob a nuclear weapon because he knows full well that it would mean guaranteed destruction. That's why Deterrence works so well. Would the USA have needed to drop two on Japan if that country had known what they were being threatened with. Arguably not, but that is another discussion.
Iran, throughout its history has been invaded by all manner of countries, from the Macedonians and the Romans to the Russians, British and Iraq in recent history. During the Iran/Iraq war, they lost up to 1 million lives in the conflict and despite having chemical weapons used on them by Saddam, did (it is believed) not retaliate in kind. They are surrounded by Arab nations (bedouins) who make no secret of their animosity towards Persians and have greedy eyes on the oil and gas that Iran holds. Turkey (NATO) and Russia to the north (see the great game) and Pakistan to the south. In the middle of that mix, they have a superpower flexing its influnce in the region. A superpower that directly interfered in Iran with a coup that put the last Shah into power as a balance against communist influence. A superpower that has armed the nations around the gulf with technology that could be used against it. A superpower that it advised to keep out of the Gulf whilst an exercise was going on, because, maybe just because, the implications of an incident or genuine mistake could be serious and maybe, just maybe, Iran has no wish for such tensions to escalate.
Amongst this, they are developing their own weapon and I understand all the arguments put before but, this will mean that finally, they will have a means of ensuring that interference in their domestic affairs by other nations could finally be stopped. They have seen the policy of regime change in action and have no wish for it to happen to them.
I am not a pacifist, or CND, but I think that we need to see past the propoganda spouted by some quarters, fermented by the immortal words of George Bush Jnr.
Has Iran invaded any other country?
Has Iran fired a weapon at any other country?
Has Iran forcefully changed the regime in any other country?
Yes they play politics, yes they meddle in other state's affairs but that is no different to what 'western nations' have been doing for years.
In some ways, Iran is similar to china. Another nation that is similarly insular but, which has been the subject of foreign interference for centuries.
That's my side of the coin, I would be happy to be 'debated' on my points or my historical viewpoint corrected.
Have a peaceful weekend everyone.