What's going on with Iran?

I was watching ABC News a few nights ago and at first I thought I had misheard the report.  Martha Raddatz was talking about Hizbollah operating in Latin America (video link).  I started searching around and here's what I've found so far:


The Christian Science Monitor has a good article about how the threat of Hizbollah in Latin America is probably over-hyped.  Some men funneling money to Hizbollah does not mean Hizbollah has terror cells operating there.

US intelligence seems to be split over whether or not Iran may be willing to attack on US soil.  Some cite the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US last year.  I'm a bit concerned by this quote from the Director of National Intelligence:

The plot "shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime."

First of all, there's a big difference between plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador in America and plotting to kill Americans in America.  Secondly, by directly saying Ali Khamenei's name, the DNI is laying the way for an attack against Iran.  Too many people are starting to understand that Ahmadinejad is NOT in charge of Iran.  The DNI used the political method of saying "probably" instead of outright accusing Khamenei.  But most Americans won't hear that word anyway.  All they'll hear is that Iran is using terrors cells to attack America.  And if Al-Qa'eda is hurting, then I guess we need somebody to be scared of.  I'm getting deja vu (again)!

Israel is putting all its offices worldwide on alert and warning Jewish organizations to be careful.

More on the possible Iran threat from DangerRoom.

Finally, here's an amusing look at the US-Iran situation, through the looking glass.

So why are we so terrified of Iran getting nukes?  Pakistan has nukes.  Even North Korea has nukes!  The main reason I think we don't want Iran to get nuclear weapons is because of Israel.  At some point the United States is going to have to take a step back and reassess what's going on.  If the US truly wants peace in the Middle East, then it needs to realize that supporting the Israelis above everyone else is not going to achieve that end. 

To clarify my position:  Israel has been around too long for it to go away.  The Middle East is going to have to accept the existence of Israel.  But Israel is going to have to accept the existence of displaced Palestinians.  And the US will too.