Answer 1

The fear primarily comes from Israel. Iran does not recognize Israel as a legitimate country because of Israel's ongoing attacks against helpless Palestinians, primarily women, children and elderly. The establishment of nuclear power by Iran poses a threat to Israel, as evidenced by Iran's openness to remove the Zionist regime of Israel for its desecration of holy Islamic sites in Palestine and its continued establishment of illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. The fact that a vast majority of lobbyists in Washington are dual US-Israeli citizens, Isreal has thus gained a strong footing in US politics and foriegn policy. So much so, that the past two decades of wars in the Middle East have been incited by Israel, but carried out by USA. The truth is, Iran actually tried to restore diplomatic ties with USA upon the commencement of the Obama administration in 2008. But, this conflicted with Israel's determination to mar Iran as a terrorist regime because of the threat it posed to Israel. Therefore, any potential for reconciliation between Iran and USA was strategically thwarted by Israel. In a nutshell, whatever Israel says to USA goes, because it's America's "obligation" to protect Israel, despite Israel's flaws in international diplomacy and track record of global terrorism. Said another way, as long as Israel exists and USA maintains its alliance with Israel, then we will always be hated and perceived as a global bully. In my opinion, if Israel has issues with Iran about its nuclear program, it can resolve its differences in one of two ways :

1) Stop its evil tactics against the Palestinians, and thus cease any reason for Iran to hate the Israelis, and consequently launch an attack by Iran.

2) Continue to step on Iran's toes, and fight its own battles without sucking us (USA) into its wars. Considering Israel succumbed to the retaliation by the small militant Hezbollah force in Lebanon in 2006, a war against Iran is Israel's way of asking for a death wish, which wouldn't be a wise move on Israel's part.

Answer 2

The US is concerned with preventing a massive Middle East War.

US Officials are much less "Israel-centric" than the Answer 1 would like to admit. Of course, Israel is afraid of what Iran would do if it had a nuclear weapon since Iran has quite clearly stated that it foresees a future where Israel is wiped off the map (regardless of how many times they say that they never said that they will do the wiping). However, there are numerous other countries bordering or near Iran that feel threatened by that country's attempt to acquire nuclear weapons. Bahrain feels especially threatened since Iran has actually called Bahrain its "fourteenth province" and Iranian military leaders have said that suicide bombers are ready to strike at key sites around the Persian Gulf if necessary. Rulers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have made an increasing rapprochement with the West to have added security from a possible Iranian assault which could come if Iran feels that it can strike with impunity. Such impunity would come from ostensibly having a nuclear weapon and threatening brinkmanship to whatever country would try to stop its conventional attack. We should not be surprised that from February 2006 to January 2007, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, and the Gulf Countries all started or restarted their own nuclear research programs, which is the same period when Iran began to seriously aim for a nuclear weapon.

Ridiculous Claims in Answer 1

Additionally, Answer 1 makes some rather fallacious statements such as:

Iran does not recognize Israel because of ongoing attacks against helpless Palestinians: No. If Iran cared about Muslim civilians dying, why does Iran support Assad in Syria who has used chemical weapons on innocent Syrians instead of cutting off all relations to Syria. They would also cut off relations to Myanmar, whose government is actually sanctioning violence against the Muslim Rohingya minority. The Muslims in those countries are much more clearly targeted by oppressive governments. The reason Iran does not recognize Israel is that Iranian rulers ascribe to the principle that whenever a land is conquered "for Islam" it should never revert to the control of Non-Muslims. Israel is, therefore, an anathema. Just as the Christians in Lebanon were forced to submit to Islamic Rule, the Iranian government believes that the same should happen in Israel. This is also why they use the "wipe off the map" argument, since they see Israel as nothing more than a Crusader state that will vanish with time.
Iran's "Openness" to destroy the Zionist regime:How silly is that phrasing? You might as well say, "I am 'open' to the possibility of killing you, but I will let the chips fall as they may."
Desecration of Islamic Holy Sites in Israel:Please provide some evidence of this; Iran makes this argument counterfactually. Concerning the digging under the the Temple Mount / Haram ash-Sharif, the Israelis are using every method possible to preserve the site while trying to learn its history. The Israelis have no intention of destroying the site as it is holy to them too. There is no Islamic site in Israel proper that is defaced, attacked, or otherwise compromised. By contrast, Jewish religious sites in the West Bank (such as the Tomb of Joseph) are defaced by Muslims with no sanctions or protections from the Palestinian Authority. Although, to be fair, Iran does preserve its Jewish Holy Sites (like the Tomb of Esther and Mordecai in Hamedan, Iran).
Settlements:While the settlements are illegal, it is not on account of such settlements that Iran opposes Israel. The Iranian leadership realizes, though, that the argument that Israel should be eliminated because it is a Non-Islamic State in "Islamic Lands" does not go over well with Non-Muslims, so they differ to this issue.
Vast majority of lobbyists are US-Israeli Dual Citizens: This is just patently false. AIPAC and other Israeli-promoting lobbying groups are just a few of the many lobbying groups that exist in the United States. There are probably more US-Mexican dual citizen lobbyists than US-Israeli dual citizen lobbyists.
Iran tried to restore US-Iranian Relations in 2008, but Israel stopped it: No. US reactions to the brutality of how the Iranian Government repressed the Green Revolution made Iran incredibly toxic. While Israel certainly is not in favor of the US resuming ties with Iran, the US government made a decision based on its values, not Israel's.
Last two decades of wars have been incited by Israel, but carried out by the USA:This was a subtle way of promoting the conspiracy theory that Israelis were behind the September 11th Attacks and are responsible for the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is more than sufficient evidence to tie al-Qaeda to the September 11th Attacks and the particular individuals that caused it. Israeli politicians were actually neutral on the question of the Iraqi invasion, weighing support for the US and the possibility of positive regime change in Iraq on one hand and the possibility of Iraqi counterattacks on Israel and a strengthening of Iran on the other.
Global Terrorism: If Israel commits state terror, and this is hotly debated, it is certainly confined to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Iran, by contrast is a global terror supporter, backing violent organizations in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and Bahrain. That is global terrorism.
Global Bully:The US was and remains a global bully with or without Israel. The US will be chastized for its decisions with or without Israel. Withdrawing support from Israel would not give the US a "clean slate" with these other countries; it would still be reviled, just less so. It is also not the US's obligation to protect Israel. The two countries are allies. If the UK was attacked, the US would help the British too.
Two Recommendations: At the end of Answer 1, which I have dissected, the author makes two recommendations for Israel to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue. Recommendation 1 is useless since violence against the Palestinians (see issue 1) is not the cause of Iranian resentment of Israel and therefore ceasing on this issue, although positive, would have no effect on placating Iran. Recommendation 2 is silly. The author knows that the Iranian Army is the most powerful non-Israeli Army in the Middle East, that the Iranian territory is difficult to invade, and that Iran's nuclear positions are beyond the depth of most types of bombs. The Israeli Army is not capable of such an assault. As for Hezbollah, it is an improper example. Hezbollah does not fight as an army, but as a paramilitary, hiding in the civilian population, not possessing aircraft or tanks, etc. The Israeli Army is much more successful against proper armies than paramilitaries.

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