The question of what to do about the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear weapons aspirations has challenged the United States through several administrations. Indeed, the discussion about how to confront Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and their predecessors has so entered the rote of foreign policy debate that arguments for and against a particular set of policies have become cliché. Worse still, the familiarity of the threat set – for how long have we warned of Iran’s nuclear ambitions? – has itself become familiar enough to have lost its menace.