Precisely because of all the threats from the Israelis and Americans to attack, and/or to squeeze Tehran into submission one way or another, Iran should be arming fast and furious with conventional weapons both for deterrence and if that fails regional war. If it comes to war the Iranians and allies, especially Lebanon, will have little time to wait and will have to lash back at Saudi Arabia and Israel, as well as US regional forces quickly. To do that it is not nuclear weapons that Iran needs, but rather a vast supply of conventional weapons especially missiles.

As the Americans and Israelis continually say superior strength — both deterrent and second-strike — is the best defense to prevent war. The Iranians are well aware they cannot aspire to superior strength, but they can have sufficient deterrence power to try to prevent attack and if need be to counter-attack with such power that the war can be quickly ended, preferably by forceful international diplomatic intervention by Russia and China, and international pressures.

This kind of arming — missiles, gunboats, conventional regional forces, allies — is fully in accord with what was agreed to in the 2015 “nuclear deal”. This kind of arming is totally justified, necessary, and completely in keeping with all international agreement. The very notion that the U.S. and UK, along with France and Germany, can arm Israel, the Saudis, and the Gulf countries with vast quantities of the latest missiles, tanks, and firepower while Iran is supposed to succumb to additional pressures not to do this and that is ludicrous.

After what the Americans. with much Israeli and Saudi plus Gulf assistance, have done in recent years to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Palestine, Syria and beyond, the Iranians would be foolhardy not to realize they can only prevent this coming to them by a combination of powerful weapons and diplomacy. They might even go so far as to quietly invite the Russian military into Iran now, or else it might soon be too late.