what in the world makes so many of you THINK that using it on israel is iran's "sole" purpose for doing so? what makes you think that it's so obsessed by an arrogant little bully with a protective big brother? and what makes you think it would pit its nascent nuclear capability against more advanced and sophisticated technology, only to set itself up for the massive retaliation that would result? the reasons iran may want nukes should be relatively obvious: it's military capabilities, defensive or otherwise, are not exactly state of the art, and it wants the "deterence" and "balance" that nukes provide...especially when its constantly being threatened with an attack by israel. which by the way, iran has NEVER done to israel...except to say that it would retaliate if attacked. in ALL of ahmadinejad's anti-zionist rhetoric, he never even implied an intent to attack israel, much less threatened it. his talk is nothing more than political posturing. it's just empty rhetoric employed to boost his image...just like israeli politicians do with their with their threats to attack iran...only the israelis are willing to go beyond the rhetoric to boost theirs. it's attacks on lebanon and gaza have proven that. israel is simply not important enough to iran for it to risk it's own destruction; but IS enough of a threat for iran to seek a deterrent capability. and besides, without israel, who will the regime use to rally support for itself?