It is not in our strategic interest to start a war with Iran. It will cause horrible upheaval in stock markets and increase the already ugly national debt.
Come on... who ISN’T excited to pay 9 dollars a gallon!?
We don’t have to. Israel would.
1. 'Starting a war with Iran'. This would be like Mike Tyson in his prime fighting Steve Urkel. It would be over once the bombing echos subside. Two hits: we hit them and they hit the ground. Over. Done.
2. 'Stock markets/debt'. No impact (okay, on Day 0, the Dow would probably knee-jerk lose 1000 points. The next day it would jump back up 800+). The weaponry that would be involved is stuff already in inventory and/or budgeted (albeit that the budget is already more deficit spending, but it wouldn't make things any worse than not stopping Iran's plans). Beyond that, eliminating Iran's war-making capabilities would serve to stabilize the entire region and open up new economic opportunities... even with Iran, if the current government were to somehow topple as a result (wishful thinking: I'd give that a 10% chance at best).
3. 'Not allowing Iran 1 nuke when Pakistan has 100-ish'. Iran is an unstable wildcard and has a terror-supporting government. Of all countries with nuke capabilities, they are the most likely to use one (on my list, NKorea is second, Pakistan and India a distant 3rd/4th). Pakistan's reason for their nuke program is directly related to India's, and they've proven by now (over a 27-year period) that they aren't going to fire one off at random. Iran, however, is committed to providing support to terrorists and they want Israel -- and us -- destroyed. They don't play well with others... period. None of that should be in dispute. If there was any other though process going on in Tehran, negotiations would already have been successfully concluded.