The cover story of the Sept. 25 issue of Time magazine suggests that a war with Iran may be more likely than people realize, and possibly inevitable.

Iran has ambitions to become the major power in the Middle East, and acquiring nuclear weapons would enable them to achieve those ambitions. Such weapons would also allow Iran’s crackpot president to deliver on his promise to wipe Israel off of the map. So, really, Iran doesn’t have a lot of motivation to forego the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

With the U.S. military committed quagmires in both Iraq and Afghanistan, I don’t see how we can mount an effective military campaign against Iran as well. But I also don’t see how we can live with a nuclear Iran. Deterrence and containment may have worked against the Soviet Union, but I think the Soviets were a bit more pragmatic than the nutballs who run Iran.

Talk about a rock and a hard place.