Iran provokes. The US responds with milquetoast banalities. Like clockwork:

The new medium-range missile tested by Iran is "not particularly different than what we've seen in the past," said Pentagon defense spokesman Geoff Morrell on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report. The report quoted Morrell as saying that US intelligence shows the missile - said to be capable of targeting parts of Israel - is not a sign of advanced military capabilities acquired by Teheran... "Such actions will increase the seriousness and resolve of the international community to hold Iran accountable for its continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear program," he said.

Really? Because according to the NYT the new missile is more accurate and can be launched faster than all of their previous missiles. Meir Javedanfar - writing an article titled "The plus side of an arms race with Iran" - also admits it's "a sign that Iran is making significant advances in its missile programme" and moving past its inaccurate Shahab-3's.

Now Iran is threatening to launch precision strikes against Tel Aviv's skyscrapers and against Israeli nuclear sites. In the former case Israel would have to respond with overwhelming force well beyond its conventional capabilities. In the latter case Israel would interpret the attack a non-conventional strike and respond accordingly. So in a very real way, the inaccuracy of Iran's missiles is all that prevents an inevitable Israeli/Iranian war from going nuclear.

Now just for completion's sake. Iran's got enough material to build a nuclear bomb. They've been developing nuclear warheads for years and the IAEA - for all that they've been hiding the fact - undeniably knows it. They've been developing nuclear triggers for years and the US - for all that the 2007 NIE authors misled Americans about it - has known it all along.

Oh. And they might building an H-Bomb: