So the other alternative is learning to live with the Iranian bomb. There are hints that the administration has a contingency plan for this option. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton let slip some time ago that the US might extend a nuclear umbrella over our Middle East Arab allies, as we have done with Japan, to encourage them not to develop their own bombs.
The Iranians are not suicidal. They know that Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons. Iran can be contained, as was the Soviet Union. And Iran gains nothing by letting terrorists have its nuclear secrets. The North Koreans, for money, or some rogue Pakistanis, for ideological reasons, are a much greater danger on that score…
In reality the best hope we have is persuading Iranians to accept a “virtual” nuclear power status, meaning that they have the capability but don’t actually build a bomb. That could satisfy their national pride — a factor we pay too little attention to — and their desire for a deterrent against further threats against their nation. It might also inoculate the region against a nuclear arms race.
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