Th only thing that will prevent Iran from getting the bomb is direct military action and since that is very unlikely, Iran will in all probability get the bomb. Israel will have to depend on anti-missile defense to save itself. The only other option is for Israel to do the hit on Iran's nuclear facilities because the rest of the world just doesn't have the stones to do it.

Posted by pyeatte at 09/29/2009

To all those who chose the top two choices - you are clearly acting on the wrong information. Check out what Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991-1998 has to say on the matter. Here's a sample: Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has a complete inspection regime conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency. It’s not been found to be in noncompliance. And yet, here we are condemning Iran for doing its job, declaring a facility, inviting inspectors in. And the conclusion it’s reached from this? That they’re producing nuclear weapons. This is politically motivated hype designed to create a situation this coming Thursday that will find the United States unable to reach any sort of agreement with Iran about its nuclear program. Remembering now that you in the US chose to ignore another UN weapons inspector once before.

Posted by dgbjpn at 10/1/2009

It is tragic how people in Israel and the US have a delusional belief that they are of a higher human breed. These two countries have stock piles of nuclear weapons. They have consistently broken the Non Proliferation Treaties. In the past 6 years they have murdered MILLIONS of innocent men, women, and children in Iraq and Palestine, and they have the audacity to be policing nuclear disarmament. I wonder what people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki think about the noble Americans trying to save the world from evil. I dont want another mad regime with the bomb, but that lesson can not be learned through nuclear monopoly! Wake up!

Posted by ffarahat at 10/1/2009

It is imperative to get as many nations as possible to pressure Iran by either sanctions, denouncement or any other combination of options to break the cycle that has evolved. While Iran will most likely continue to develop nuclear devices, until there is a government in place that will denounce such acts, the nations of the world should do all it can to alleviate this problem, short of invasion and war.

Posted by rasputin195 at 10/2/2009

The most absurd aspect of this argument is that the two most vocal nations involved are habitual violators of international nuclear policy. Israel has a 40-year-old deal with the United States that amounts to a nuclear non-disclosure agreement. They are a nation that has been in multiple-- almost perpetual-- armed conflicts since their creation. That makes them an apparent nuclear threat. They irrefutably have nuclear weapons and other WMDs, but no one threatens them with sanctions. Even more absurd than that is the fact that the country spearheading the pressure against Iran, the United States, has been at war in some capacity for the better part of the last century and is the only nation ever to use a atomic-based weapon. This doesn't mean that inspections shouldn't happen in Iran (something Tehran said they will allow), but that international rules must apply to all nations. Countries who are perpetual in conflict are the ones who really pose a danger to humanity.

Posted by vincentml at 10/14/2009