Kristol's ideology reminds me a lot of Marxism. It's a theory that works only in an ideal world that doesn't actually exist. In Kristol's world, the US can muster the political will and economic might to build an enormous army akin to what we fielded in World War Two. He believes we can march that army into the heart of the middle east and impose our will on a country like Iran; that doing so would have no long term negative ramifications for our economy; and that any negative consequences to our standing in the world could be ignored because we are the all powerful hegemon. Of course none of that is true.

Whether Iran counter-attacked or not, the consequences for our country would be almost entirely negative if we attacked them. There's no realistic scheme under which we could unleash the kind of overwhelming force Kristol suggests. So our limited efforts would only secure the power of those currently in charge in Tehran and they would crush any straggling remnants of the green revolution. It would give an excuse to other nations to ease up on sanctions in the interests of making money from trade with Iran. It would provide the justification for Iran to go really nuclear in the future and the means by which to do it.