Just a heads up guys. Although Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be the President of Iran, he's not the supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the Supreme Leader and essentially him and his Council of Guardians make the big decisions.
The president of Iran is pretty much the head of the executive branch, and used pretty much as the economic planner. Presidential influence on military decisions is minimal.
Yes, Ahmadinejad is irrational but it's not going to be by his hand that any nuclear war happens. As for Israel preemptively striking, I find it hard to believe this is anything beyond posturing.
Can you really blame Iran though? I'm not saying it's a good idea to make nuclear weapons (whether or not they are for sure is up for debate.) There's been war continuously in that region for 4 decades, and invasions by the USSR and the US in surrounding countries attempting to impose their own identity I'm not surprised they would be trying for powerful defense. The US didn't seem to have a problem with Pakistan obtaining nuclear weapons, and this is a country that harbored OBL.
MAD is the biggest detering factor, and I don't believe any country would be willing to risk it. No matter how insane they're precieved.
HOWEVER...the risk of Iran selling it to other organizations such as Hezbollah is higher than if they didn't have nuclear material at all. I have no idea how high the actually is, but it's been shown that Iran has no problem helping what are considered "terrorist organizations." Either way, preemptive strikes are not a viable solution.
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