A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal by Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, lays out the threat of Iran and urges diplomatic action as "time is short". This follows recently announced sanctions by the Obama administration on banks doing business with Iran. Throughout this presidential election cycle, Iran has come up and is a pretty safe target for American lawmakers to look "tough".
But how big of a threat is Iran?
Below is a short portion of a lecture given by Noam Chomsky at University College London in 2011 on his perspective, one that is slightly less represented on a national level in the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rutrNbkrhIA