"so we would be looking at an open-ended occupation of Iran"
Not of Iran, just their oil fields. THat is my WHOLE point. We can forgo a messy occupation and nation building type venture. We cut off their funds and destroy their nuke capabilities. They will no longer have funds to support terrorism. They will no longer have a military to suppress the populace.
True they would be more mad at us than the mullahs, but who cares?
CYP
And how do we decide who to sell this oil to?
And for how much?
Do we join OPEC?
The entire world would see this as a US theft of a sovereign nation's natural resources - if you remember the US lead multinational invasion of Iraq the first time around was because Iraq had invaded Kuwait and seized oil fields there.
In addition, such an occupation would not even solve he problem that was its "cause" in the first place: unless we invade the rest of Iran to dig out their nuclear program it would continue, even if the government in Tehran has to starve their population to do so.