"Iranian mullahs want and need war. Been obvious since the hostage taking in 79. The west used the proxy Saddam to feed and tame the Iranian Mahdi wannabes, but Saddam got out of control and had to be eliminated. Iranians know that ground forces cannot enter Iran without suffering massive suicidal attacks. Would be comparable to the US invading Japan during WWII instead of just nuking a couple of cities and demanding and getting an unconditional surrender."
Agree with all if it except for the USA's hestitation to not want to go in because of potential mass suicide attacks. Iran used this to some level of success against Iraq, but they wouldn't get within 2 miles of our fleet of tanks, armored personele and troops. We have massive air power, daisy cutters and MOABS. Methinks it all goes down like this: Britain does not capitulate, the USA, Israel and Britain conduct a massive bombing campaign on all of Iran's nuclear facilities and military command complexes. Iran responds with a nuclear attack on our carrier fleet. I firmly believe they already have them in limited number. Oil prices skyrocket to $115 a barrel overnight. The USA and Iran have a temporary peace agreement.
If Iran used a nuke on any NATO force, EVER, an SSBN would incinerate the country within 24 hours. You can take that to the bank.
If the Iranians use a nuke there will no longer be any doubt about their possession of nuclear weapons. That will green light total annihilation. The free world could not sit back while Iran then developed Midrange and Long Range ICBM capabilities. Testing a nuke and using a nuke are two entirely different issues. In the modern world you can negotiate and make treaties with nuke testers. You cannot however negotiate and make treaties with nuke users. Especially if they have violated almost every agreement they have ever entered.