but we don't have the firepower on hand to hold Iraq and take and hold Iran
Wrong. 1st we don't need to take and hold. Just bomb the nuke Sites out of existance.
2nd, the idea that the US Military is "over stretched" is just more Dinasour Media BS. Here is the link. More then half of JUST the US Army is NOT Deployed at the current monment add in half the Marines and virtually ALL of the AF and Navy. Sorry we HAVE the power to take out Iran.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/global-deployments.htm
Bombing by Clinton in 1998 was pointless. Israel had one clearly located reactor to bomb, which taught the bad guys to disperse and/or harden their nuke efforts. A strike on Iranian nuke and missle sites cannot be guaranteed success. And the bad guys are still there with perhaps more public support.
We need regime change, and fast, one way or another.
Anything less is at best a play for time.