Iran has had a potent arsenal of chemical munitions, including nerve agents, alongside likely biological agents for at least 30 years. They are one of the few countries with recent battlefield experience of chemical munitions, both defensively and offensively. The West hasn't experienced a nerve agent attack since 1918. Iran would have observed, and taken note, how Syria and their Russian allies, deployed chemical munitions. IRGC personnel were certainly involved in filling Syrian SCUDs with various special munitions. They had missiles with sufficient range for over 20 years, with iterative improvements in performance and reliability ever since. Yet, Iran has never fired a chemical weapon laden missile at Israel, despite the likelihood it would cause mass casualties, with likely a longer tail, as a nuclear weapon. It has fired long range missiles from Iran and short range missiles from Lebsnon, generally in retaliation for some act. Iran is not a mass suicide cult. An attack on Israel with a single nuclear weapon it knows would likely end the Islamic Republic of Iran, quite literally. Besides Israel having, in all likelihood, a maritime counter strike capability, they would assume that the US would join in, and possibly other countries. Muslims, like Christians of Faith, believe in martyrdom; giving your life for the greater cause. For suicide bombers this has been twisted, by men and women being essentially hoodwinked by malevolent characters who are skilful in exploiting weak characters. When the 911 attackers flew their planes into the WTC, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, what did they expect they could achieve. It wasn't going to cause the USA to give up, and submit to Allah en masses. It wasn't going to destroy America. Maybe they thought like Barry the Convert in 4 Lions, that it would inspire the Umma to rise up. It didn't. Maybe someone told them that it would, and this is why they should kill themselves. Repeat for every pathetic loser who strapped explosives to their body. An attack on Israel wouldn't destroy Israel, thanks to the topography. A lot of Israelis would die, but a lot would live. Iran know this. Iranian nuclear weapons are part 2 of the Shah's willy waving. The Shah built up a huge military, because he had some bizarre idea to make Iran a superpower, essentially get one over the Arabs. The present government are much the same. Its about enabling waving a big stick in the region without suffering the usual drawbacks. MAD assured the survival of the Cold War powers. But post Cold War, we see that being a nuclear power against non-nuclear states gives you a ticket to ride. Would the US have invaded Iraq if the Iraqis actually had the Bomb. Similarly, Russia in Ukraine; they would never have invaded both Georgia and Ukraine if they weren't nuclear armed. They seem to think its an insurance policy against mistakes by the leadership, resulting in normally serious leaders doing stupid things. Iran having a nuclear weapon or two or ten, doesn't mean Iran is zapping Tel Aviv next week. It does mean Iran leaning heavily on Baghdad over talks about access to the Shatt Al Arab, it means they might want Najaf one of the holiest places in Shia Islam, and the big one, who controls Mecca. The control of Mecca is bigger than whatever happens to Israel. If you control Mecca, you control Islam, you control a large chunk of humanity. You obtain enormous influence, which is the objective of every single government on Earth. The US wants influences. The UK wants influence. Russia wants influence. China wants influence. Iran wants a seat at that table, and thinks it shouldn't be the Camel shaggers of Riyadh doing that representation. The Saud family seized Mecca by force in 1924, and used that to establish their pre-eminence in the Arab world and in the West. Previously , the Sherif of Mecca, which was overthrown in 1908/1924, was a line stretching back to the 900s, and acted as a sort of neutral guarantor of access to the holy sites, maybe not exactly like the Vatican, but you get the point. Iran wants either an Iranian Mecca or re-instituting the Sherif, take it out of Saudi control. You also have to remember the enmity between Sunni and Shia. Traditionally, the Shia were pretty hard done to; they were the poorer lot. They follow a person who famously died in battle, and they mark that loss by an annual gory self flagellation. Its easy to see how Iran wants to be seen as protecting the poor and weak, compared to the corpulant and profligate Sauds, in their Rolls Royces and gold plated jets. So I think the West has Iran's motives all wrong, just like they were wrong about Pakistan's motives. Its about guaranteeing survival. Unilateral use of them guarantees destruction, with nne of the attendant "at least it was worth it". Nations do not think like screwed up incel crackhead bombers.
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