Iran launches satellite; one step closer to nuclear power

It may not be possible to prevent Iran eventually getting nuclear weapons. Sanctions which avoid physical force may not be sufficently dissuasive. Israel may launch raids against what seem to be nuclear facilities, but these may not be effective in the long run. There is also the danger of all-out war between Israel and Iran.

If Iran at some future time were to launch a nuclear attack against Israel, it would kill just as many Palestinians, Jordanians, Cypriots, Egyptians and Syrians etc, as Israelis because of fall-out. So we must hope that whatever we hear in anti-Israel rhetoric from Iran, they would actually have the sense not to be a first nuclear aggressor in any conflict.

Nations seem to want nuclear weapons avowedly for self-defence, but probably actually for prestige. We can only hope for a balance of terror (as in the Cold War between the USA and the USSR).

The real danger seems to me of terrorists' getting nuclear capabilities for local, irresponsible attacks on Israel and the West.
Perhaps we should focus more on national security, rather than costly military action in the Near East and the continent of Asia where there are natural limits on what even the US can achieve.