United States has been dictating the rules of International System since the end of Cold War. After making the Soviet mincemeat, the US was bold enough to make and break the trends of the international system. With the mistaken kindness of the Jewish lobby scrolling around Pentagon, the US always smells a rat about Islam. They perceive Islam as antidemocratic, anti-West & ultimately as the only challenger to the supremacy of the West. The Clash of Civilization, the End of History and many more articles are the intellectual footings aimed at containing Islam. Supported by the western media, a generalized atmosphere of racism and xenophobia directed against Muslims has unfolded, particularly in Western Europe, which provides a fake legitimacy to the US war agenda against Islam. 
 Though the prospects of US attack on Iran cannot be read as the direct outcome of the intellectual debates discussed above, it is the part of the strategy of Zionist lobby. In their books, Rita Parsi & Barbara Slavin have confirmed that the most powerful brake on US policy towards Iran has been the Zionist lobby.
 As far as US attitude towards Iran is concerned, every time there appeared to be the hope of cooling tensions, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) together with the US Neocons, shifted into high gear against Tehran. In response to the cooperation against Taliban in late 2001, Israel intercepted "Karine A" ship, claiming it was transporting "Iranian weapons" to the Palestinians. So, there is little reason to hope that the current Administration will adopt a rational policy towards Iran.  
Though Bush administration is widely unpopular over the Iraq war and the failure of NATO forces in Afghanistan and President Bush has lost the confidence of many of its close allies, still President Bush has not ruled out using force against Iran.
"My first choice of course is to solve this diplomatically. All options are on the table. We'll see what choice they make," said Bush after talks with German Chancellor Angela Markel on June 11, 2008 at Mesemberg.
The "US escalating covert operations against Iran: report" has given a very different direction to the matter in which it has been reported, that US congressional leaders agreed late last year to President George W Bush's funding request for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing its leadership, according to a report in The New Yorker magazine published online. The finding was focused on undermining Iran's nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change. According to the article, funding for the covert escalation, for which Bush requested up to $US400 million ($416 million), was approved by congressional leader.
The report said clandestine operations against Iran were not new. US Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross border operations from southern Iraq since last year.
The article confirms that these have included seizing members of Al-Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of "high-value targets" in Bush's war on terrorism, which may be captured or killed.
But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which include the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), have now been significantly expanded.
The attacks on Iran are also officially supported by America's European allies including France and Germany. France’s Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has called upon France to support the US war on Iran.
"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," Mr. Kouchner said in an interview on French TV and radio.
 The western media supports war plans directed against Iran as "for real" and should be taken seriously. According to other official statements, "punitive bombings" directed against Tehran could be launched. The truth of all these statements seems to come to an end at least for the current administration having little stay in the White House.
 But the "US escalating covert operations against Iran: report " has given birth to another possibility that Bush Administration would not allow this issue to pass to his successor, as it may not have the will to resolve the issue.
 Many political analysts also fall in with the view that the foreign policy of the US has been hijacked by the ideologues leaving very lesser or least role for the professionals who could handle it differently. The ideologues have time and again shown their consent and plan to create "Greater Middle East" as a divine mission. It is more likely that in perusing such a mission, they will seek legitimacy from the Biblical lore: undermining International Law (a key source of order in the International System).
To contain Iran is the primary focus of the US Middle East policy: a way to bring stability to Iraq, disarm Hezbollah, and restart the Arab-Israel peace process. To safeguard the primary interests of the US namely security of Israel, oil resources and to maintain status quo.
Iran is considered the only country in the region which is posing a serious threat to the US interests in Middle East. Vice President Dick Cheney announced this new direction previously on the deck of the U.S.S. John C. Stennis in the Persian Gulf. "We'll stand with our friends in opposing extremism and strategic threats. We'll continue bringing relief to those who suffer and delivering justice to the enemies of freedom."
 Meanwhile, Iran nuclear program is gall and wormwood for international community in general and for Washington in particular.  The US stance is that Iran does not need to rely on nuclear energy, since it has vast oil and gas resources. More ironically, the US has expressed support for a European package of diplomatic and economic reward-put together by Germany, England, and France recently provided Iran halts uranium enrichment which can be a key step towards making atomic bomb.
“We will not trade our dignity with anything. If they want to give us something, then they should sell it and we will buy," ISNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in response to the offer.
 It's nothing but an open mouthed wonder that the legal right of Iran to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes under the provisions of NPT has been denied by the US. This argument also justifies the presumption that how US violates and dictates the International Law.
 The "US escalating covert operations against Iran: report" also assures that the cost of doing nothing may prove, too high and that a minimum of military strikes could at least set back Iran nuclear program by several years. For doing so the Pentagon has developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets on Iran before this report came. One intelligence officer said the US military had two major contingency plans: "One is to bomb only the nuclear facilities, the second option is for a much bigger strike that would -- over three or four days -- hit all of the significant military sites as well."(quoted in The Sunday Telegraph, September 2007)
 The other side of the picture tells a different story. Though the Neocons believe that Ahmadinejad has lost popular support and that a small nudge would enough to dismantle Tehran regime, Iran in terms of military and hardware capabilities (350,000 military personal, 2,200 tanks) has the potential to inflict significant losses to US. Tehran has confirmed that it will war to knife if attacked, in the form of ballistic missile strikes against Israel as well as US military facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, which would immediately lead us into a scenario of military escalation and all out war.
 In response to a recent report in US media that more than 100 Israeli warplanes staged training exercises earlier this month to prepare for a possible long-distance strike, the chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards issued a new warning to Israel on 27th June 2008.
 "This country Israel is completely within the range of the Islamic Republic's missiles. Our missile power and capability are such that the Zionist regime-despite all its abilities cannot confront it."
In a same response to the "US escalating covert operations against Iran: report", Iran’s Defence Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najar said: “Iran will not begin any conflict, but will punish any aggressor with force, determination and using all the options."
So the consequences of such an attack will be global; the war would encompass an area extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to China's Western frontier. As a result, Gulf would be closed and oil traffic be disrupted which would have worse impacts on world economy.
 Similarly, air strikes may not be enough as earlier Israeli attempt to bomb Lebanon failed badly and has brought humiliation at home. Even some pro-US governments are against the attack for its negative fall out. Far from seeking confrontation with Iran, they fear the consequences of escalating tensions between it and the United States. Putin, on his visit to Tehran, has reiterated that Russia will help Iran in the event of any Western attacks.
 It is for general interests of all the stakeholders concerned to engage Iran directly. This must include all the relevant players, which is the most sustainable and the least taxing strategy for the United States in the Middle East, a hot corner of the world. Media bears a heavy responsibility, where US war project should be brought to the political debate and citizen must take a stance both individually and collectively. A massive campaign is required to inform people across the land, nationally and internationally about the dangers of the US0-sponsored war, but the message should be loud and clear.
Equally, Iran should persuade its neighbors and the world leaders that it is not violating the rules and fully abiding by International Law by conforming to IAEA safeguards, which appears to be the only ray of hope in the gloomy perspective. So a successful diplomacy and regional lobbying, and a united front at the regional level are advisable for Iran.