Israel's leaders are making increasingly loud and worrisome comments about Iran's nuclear program. Israel sees Tehran's nuclear ambitions as an existential threat — a view that is not surprising given repeated remarks by Iranian leaders that Israel should be wiped from the map.

Iran's leaders may be borrowing a page from the "madman's guide to international relations," ratcheting up tension to gain leverage in negotiations; all evidence suggests that the government and elites in Tehran are as self-interested as any other and they have no desire to commit suicide. Exaggerations notwithstanding, the dangers are very real. Iran's suspected determination to acquire a weapon would unravel the security and political order in the Middle East. Just as dangerous are the possibilities of a crisis as a result of misperception or over-reaction.

Questions have swirled around Iranian nuclear ambitions for years. Tehran's insistence that its nuclear program is peaceful has not allayed concerns that the government wants at least a "latent" capability that would allow it to build a bomb at short notice. Attempts by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world's nuclear watchdog, to eliminate the uncertainties have failed. Instead, Iran has kept the IAEA at arm's length, increasing suspicions and providing a justification for international sanctions.