In an excellent, detailed article, Michael Rubin asks: Can a Nuclear Iran Be Contained or Deterred?

Read it all, but here’s the bottom line:

It may be comforting to Abizaid, Mullen, and the electorate to believe that the United States can deter or contain Tehran’s worst ambitions, but absent any preparation to do so, Washington is instead signaling that the Islamic Republic has a green light to claim regional dominance and, at worst, carry out its threats to annihilate Israel. At the same time, absent any effort to lay the groundwork either for containment or deterrence, Washington is signaling to its allies in the region that they are on their own and that the U.S. commitment to protect them is empty. Arab states and Iran’s other neighbors may calculate that they have no choice but to make greater accommodation to Tehran’s interests. Should Israeli officials believe that the West will stand aside as Iran achieves nuclear capability and that a nuclear Islamic Republic poses an existential threat to the Jewish state, they may conclude that they have no choice but to launch a preemptive military strike—an event that could quickly lead to a regional conflagration from which the United States would have difficulty remaining aloof.