According to a recent Gallup Poll, the American public views Iran as the single greatest threat to world stability. Moreover, most Americans support recent U.S. sanctions against Iran. Another poll, this one by Zogby America, found that 52 percent of American voters now support a pre-emptive attack on Iran to keep its leaders from getting their hands on nuclear weapons.¹ Moreover, 53 percent believe that the U.S. will attack Iran before the next presidential election.

Since shortly after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, Iran has been attempting to buy and develop the technology needed for nuclear weapons. When diplomatically challenged on this point, the regime inevitably cites its need for clean, reliable electricity. Though few, if any, analysts accept that a major petroleum exporter needs nuclear power to meet its energy needs, a substantial minority questions why a world that has nuclear powers like India, Pakistan, and Israel can’t live with just one more.

The answer lies in the fact that Iran is a fundamentally different kind of state than the other members of the nuclear club. To begin with, it’s proactively exporting Islamist revolution around the world. The Bush Administration has presented evidence that Iran is arming and training insurgents in Iraq. Hezbollah in Lebanon is a proxy army funded by Iran. The recent Hamas uprising in Gaza was also funded by Iran. Syria’s acquisition of Russian and North Korean weapons has been funded with Iranian petrodollars. And, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly reiterated his goal of wiping Israel off the map.

Also, unlike Soviet leaders during the Cold War, Iran’s leaders have nothing to lose in a nuclear war. For most people, “mutually assured destruction” is a powerful deterrent; the Soviets never launched their missiles because they didn’t want their country to be destroyed by U.S. warheads. On the contrary, Iran’s leaders believe they are waging a holy war in which the end of this world is not a deterrent; instead, they believe they will be rewarded in the afterlife as long as they are true to their faith.

Ali Khamenei, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and essentially every other senior Iranian leader all believe that they are doing “the will of Allah.” As documented in numerous speeches and documents, the leaders of...