Short answer- Yes, and it's a bad thing
Long answer:
Iran seems to be putting a plan into place to boost their economy by consuming less oil and thus selling more(very basic view) as well as having something to fall back on when the oil runs out.
Problem is that if they can make (Russia is building their reactors right now) and supplying nuclear power plants then they can make nukes. I would believe they don't intend to make nukes IF they completely opened up their nuclear program to inspectors and went out of their way to show their serious, as well as assurances (perhaps trade deals) that they will not peruse nukes later. They have NOT done this, and have gone out of their way to snub inspections.
This is not another ?Iraq has WMD?s, no we can?t tell you where this info comes from?. They told the world they have a nuclear program, from that program they can make the material needed to fuel a nuclear bomb, it?s not much more of a step to assemble a bomb.
Normally the M.A.D. policy promotes peace, but you need a stable and reasonable government for this to work. India and Pakistan have already come fairly close to a nuclear war, I don?t imagine Iran being much more stable then Pakistan (these guys have recently made deals with the talaban who are operating in their country and have known high level officials living in their capital). I recall the Iranian government in season (I don?t know the proper term) chanting ?Death To America? with a announcement related to their nuclear program, the whole ?wipe Israel off the face of the map? and other such comments and the fact that religion plays a big role in their government which would like nothing more then to see every Israel killed down to the last man, woman and child. So I belive that directly or indirectly they will attempt to attack Israel or the USA - whichever is easier ? with nuclear weapons.
Only if all trading partners with Iran put huge pressure to the point 95% of their exports are cut off (including oil) will they be forced to stop. I however do not believe this will happen between Russia (currently building their nuclear power plants, and supplying ?Defensive? weapons such as some VERY effect SAM?s) and China (which is ?shopping? the world for oil and raw materials).
The other alternative is to launch strikes on their nuclear facilities. If Iran doesn?t stop it?s a given that Israel (read some Israel news) will launch a pre-emptive strike, but they can only target the facilities they ?know about. If the USA joins in (which I think they will), then they will target these facilites harder as well as take out other targets such as military and government.
Since there is no way there will be a ground invasion, it?ll be done mostly with air power and here is 2 problems. 1- Iran has the ?ability? to defend key locations against air attack and if they have been smart about deploying, linking and training people to run these systems then there will be some nasty losses. 2- they have bunkers very similar to what the USSR built in case of nuclear war, they don?t know if bunker busters will touch these targets and last I checked (1 month ago) the USA has still kept the option open to use ?tactical nukes? to take out these targets, kind of ironic.
Finally, Iran could retaliate against any attacks by disrupting oil supplies (such as sending specially trained military units into neighboring countries to sabotage their oil flow, attacking oil tankers) and really start supporting terrorists in Iraq, which could damage the world economy.
My answer: Have a large collation of countries that can crush Iran like a bug and say to the government officials ?you have until xx.xx.xx to stop your nuclear program or you will die?.
Fell free to correct anything I have wrong, and I hope this isn?t too long.