Quote:
Originally Posted by Spartan198
The major difference between the US having nukes and Iran having nukes is that Iran is lead by a genocidal extremist who's bound to use them at the slightest provocation.
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As I have said, nobody actually believes Iran will use the nukes at "the slightest provocation". They may be Shi'ite fundamentalists, but they still have national interests that involve their country not getting nuked in return. I'm not big into deterrence theory myself, but I can tell you that even the most conservative, anti-Iran scholars in my field do not anticipate Iran ever using its nukes against Israel, or anyone else.
What they're a lot more worried about is how it would affect the regional balance of power and embolden Iran to act more recklessly in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza. Also, Israel's possession of nukes is part of what has allowed them to maintain hegemony over the Arab countries, so Iran having nukes might encourage the Arabs to shift away from Israel (though this is not certain, since most Arabs and Persians will always hate each other more than they hate Jews). From the Israeli - and, by extension, the American - point-of-view, this is not acceptable. The Russians and Chinese don't exactly like Iran having nukes, either, but they do like what they can get out of the negotiation process.