'Tehran certainly knows, looking at Israel’s experience, that nuclear weapons don’t always prevent conventional conflict. In the lead up to Egypt and Syria’s surprise attack against Israel on Yom Kippur 1973, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was well aware of Israel’s nuclear weapons program. But it did not deter him. In fact, the early days of Egypt’s operation were so successful that Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan was said to have told Prime Minister Golda Meir that he feared “the destruction of the Third Temple.”
Additionally, Iran isn’t laboring under any delusion that the final steps in acquiring nuclear weapons will be militarily risk-free. In the early 1980s, both Israel and Iran attacked Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor, effectively eliminating his program before he could achieve a weapon. In 2007, Israel destroyed Syria’s nuclear reactor in the Deir Ez-Zor region. It’s unclear whether even the United States has the capability to destroy Iran’s well-buried enrichment facility at Fordow, but it could certainly hit other critical facilities, perhaps even nonnuclear targets like Iran’s power grid.
All of this suggests that when Iranian officials say they do not want to get a bomb, maybe America should listen. If it did, then it would make sense to double down by reminding the Iranians of all the good reasons to hold off.'
- John Spacapan,
Why America Should Believe Iran When It Says It Doesn't Want Nuclear Weapons, April 11, 2020
Context'..to achieve peace between [Israel & Syria] - '..all political parties in [Syria] to achieve a peaceful solution..''..a synchrotron particle collider .. Jordan .. the Middle East, including Iran, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel.'