[MarkL]

Maybe some version of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) would work—if the Iranian leaders know that the Israelis will 10 Iranians for every one Israeli they kill (just using that figure because Iran has about 10 times as many people), they might be more deterred by that than by feeble warnings from the UN or the White House. There is no way the Iranians could take out all the sites from which Israel would launch its attacks so they would be very vulnerable.

The problem is that the mullahs control the military, and the "grand ayatolla" was quoted as saying that it would be "worth it" to lose 100 million muslims if it meant wiping out Israel and the Jews. And they don't care how many arabs are killed; There's no love lost between Iranians (Persians) and the arabs (a different "race").

Mark

[monkeyshine]

Except that the Iranians are not Arabs, they are Persians/Iranians. Maybe they are willing to sacrifice 100 million Muslims, and they are definitely willing to sacrifice 100 million Arabs, but they are not prepared to sacrifice every Persian.