This is in my opinion, simply playing the safe card (from a Bush perpective).
Given all the caterwauling over the “missing” WMDs (ask the dead Kurds if they existed and the Syrians where they are now), Bush is not going to go down as “historically wrong” wrong twice. Note: I don’t think he was wrong.
So, put in a little delay and let the next president have to deal with it.
Now you have 1.5 - 5 years til the Iranians have enough to cause severe problems.
In other words, I don’t think anything is going to be done about the Iranians - we have the official opinion on record now so that if a US city goes bye-bye, everybody can claim they knew nothing.
More head-in-the-sand diplomacy.
“So, put in a little delay and let the next president have to deal with it.”
I see what you’re saying, but I doubt Bush has enough confidence in the next administration (especially if it’s a DemocRAT) to take care of such a situation