A much more cold blooded approach is likely the best. To create a “nuclear accident” in Iran that makes nuclear anything anathema.
This would create an accident that would cause extensive loss of life, as well as casualties, and be blamed on the Iranian nuclear program by the Iranian people.
It would require a specially built truck, and a bomb planted at an Iranian nuclear facility upwind of a population center, as well as a follow up propaganda campaign.
The truck would park downwind of the nuclear facility, but upwind of the city. Then it would silently start generating a large volume of a selected list of nuclear isotopes, in an aerosol form. Isotopes that would cause terrible skin burns, as well as lethal radiation poisoning.
Then, after the truck had finished, it would quietly drive away to be dumped at sea, and the bomb would be set off at the nuclear facility, with the added bonus of destroying it. Then a propaganda campaign would expose the accident to the Iranian people.
Several thousand Iranians would be horribly burned and die, but it would prevent further development of nuclear weapons, as well as putting their government in jeopardy. All told, perhaps saving millions of lives.
I'd just use a Trident or a land-based ICBM (dial-a-yield set to max) to show them up close and personal *WHY* they don't want to tangle with us.
Remember, the US is the only power that has ever willingly, deliberately, nuked civilians; and we firebombed both Germany and Japan, too. Not that I'm particularly glad of that: but if the camel-humpers want to thump their chests, they should remember that we've "been there; done that; got the T-shirt" before most of them were even born.
And the result? Germany and Japan now make our automobiles...
But if you're squeamish, let's aim at their sole refinery first; or else some important military installation exclusive of a population center.
Cheers!
Nice plan.