As discussions over the options available to the United States in preventing Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons occur, almost all commentators opine that a strong blockade of vital supplies (the principal being gasoline) would be treated by Iran as an act of war, as it traditionally has been.
These same commentators regularly refer to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a madman, yet never extend that psychoanalytical assessment to the underlying genesis of their summary judgment—his subscription to Mahdiism (see Iran's President and the Politics of the Twelfth Imam).
It seems to me that the alternatives are to engage Iran in a shooting war without their having the benefit of a nuclear arsenal or to wait until they do have that option, with the full expectation that they are prepared to use it, indeed may look forward to the opportunity. The specter of United States naval vessels being fried by a nuclear blast makes Exocet missiles and bomb-laden speedboats pale in comparison.
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