[Dog]

but I don't even think the USA would go nuclear in response to getting hit with 2 or 3 nukes.

You have got to be joking....the politicans would be politicans....its the American people who would demand the government go Roman on someone.

[Constantine XIII]

Moreover, it would happen before anyone knew what happened.

Here's a guess at what the media (and the rest of us) would see:

-Communications from Tel Aviv cease abruptly

-A few minutes later, indications show that a nuclear weapon went off in the city center

-15 to 20 minutes later, data from USGS website show unusual seismic events in Iran.

-President and some Air Force generals explain via a television broadcast a few hours later that radar detected an unexpected suborbital launch in Iran. Once it was clear that a nuclear attack had occured, certain treaty obligations were invoked and the aggressor was punished in such a way that it will no longer pose a threat.

[HitmanLV]

No joke at all.

Say 3 or 4 small sized nukes go off in 3 major American cities.

Who do you nuke in response? The liberals in congress would insist on not harming innocents because of a small minority of religious whackos. Who do you nuke then, Flyboy?

It's no joke: the USA wouldn't go nuclear in response to a small (though devastating) attack like that).