Saddam-era scenario
These let's-bomb-Iran crowd consists of the same politicians and pundits that not so long ago were warning that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that the world-as-we-know-it would come to an end unless the US invaded Iraq.
Recent reports suggest that the Israelis have agreed to refrain from taking military action against Iran while the Obama administration continues to use diplomatic means and widen the anti-Iran international coalition to pressure the clerics in Teheran to change course. American and Israeli officials have apparently drawn a set of 'red lines' that would determine if and when a use of a military option against Iran becomes acceptable to both sides.
Mr Obama and his diplomatic and national security aides are confident that they have a relatively long window of opportunity - at least until after this year's presidential and Congressional elections - in pursuing their diplomatic option. They believe that the collapse of the Assad regime in Damascus is imminent and this has deprived Iran of a central regional partner, making it much more difficult for the Iranians to provide support for Hizbollah if war breaks out with Israel. At the same time, the withdrawal of US military from Iraq makes it unlikely that American troops there would be threatened by Iranian retaliation in case of a war with Iran.
These developments coupled with the more assertive anti-Iran position of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies (that pledged to increase oil exports to the West and China if tighter sanctions on Iran's oil exports go into effect) may have weakened the diplomatic bargaining power of Iran and putting may be more pressure on Teheran to reach a compromise of sorts with the US and its European allies.
Turkey's role
Turkey, which notwithstanding some of the recent tensions with Washington and Paris - not to mention Israel - remains a Nato member and a key US ally, is emerging as a leading Middle Eastern power that is counter-balancing Iran and certainly does not want to see Teheran with nuclear arms.
But it also wants to avert a military confrontation between the US and Iran and could play a major role in trying to facilitate a diplomatic deal under which Iran could agree to put its nuclear programme on hold in exchange for enhanced diplomatic and economic ties with the West.
Moreover, notwithstanding the heated rhetoric coming out of Teheran, its leaders are worried about its growing diplomatic and economic isolation and the disastrous impact that a war with the US could have on the ability of the regime to continue maintaining its power in the long run.
Similarly, there is very little support for a war with Iran in the Obama administration which recognises that such a course could draw the US into a new costly military quagmire in the Middle East. And considering that both on Iraq (over the issue of maintaining US military presence there) and on Afghanistan (over the issue of changing the timeline for withdrawing troops) Mr Obama has been able to resist the pressure from the political right, it is not inconceivable that he could continue pursuing his graduated approach on Iran and counter the calls to go to war.
But things can go wrong. As Britain's prime minister during World War I, David Lloyd George, explained in his memoirs: 'Nobody wanted war' in 1914. 'The nations slithered over the brink into the boiling cauldron of war without any trace of apprehension or dismay,' he recalled.
Indeed, the danger is in a regional and global strategic environment under which the balance of power remains very shaky. US power is being challenged. The Iranian leadership feels that it is being pushed into a corner. The Israelis are feeling isolated as the Middle Eastern political system continues to go through dramatic changes.
Unexpected provocations and miscalculations could lead the kind of war that once again nobody wants.
