comment: You know, as much as we’ve been involved in Middle East conflicts over the past few decades, I think a scenario like this would be what would actually pull us into a new Gulf War, as opposed to a U.S.-Iran standoff. 
  The American public is exhausted from the GWOT, our focus has been redirected towards Europe and the Asia-Pacific, our forces reoriented and returned to an emphasis on great-power conflict and conventional war, and I don’t think a President with half a brain cell would send us full force into the Middle East again. 
  But the Saudis are in a new Cold War with Iran for control of the Gulf and the Israelis just do whatever the Israelis wanna do. What’s more likely is that Israel or Saudi Arabia end up in a fight with Iran whether they develop a nuke or not, and we end up getting dragged into it piece by piece until we wake up one day and we’re leading the charge again, god forbid. 
  And as a Marine, there’s not a whole lot of places I’d be less excited to operate in than Iran. It’s an absolute nightmare for an attacking or occupying force, far more so than Iraq or Afghanistan ever was. Even if a ground invasion was off the table, which for the love of god it had better be, we’re still looking at a miserable engagement in the Gulf, not to mention the havoc that Iranian-backed militias will be wreaking in the rest of the region.