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The U.S. is at war with Iran—although for now it’s just a “war of words,” said Tom Engelhardt on TheNation.com. But that could change. “The President has indicated, more than once, that he would not hand the Iranian nuclear situation over to his successor unresolved.” The White House already reportedly has approved covert actions inside Iran to destabilize the government, and Iran is meddling in Iraq to secure power for its fellow Shiites there. Add it all up, and “the American-Iranian relationship” is the “potential crucible of disaster for the planet.”

Don’t hide in a cave just yet, said Steven Clemons in Salon.com. “Despite holding out a military option, ratcheting up tensions with Iran about meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deploying carrier strike-force groups in the Persian Gulf, the president is not planning to bomb Iran.” Going to war with Tehran would disrupt our oil supply horribly, and could send Sunni Arab states falling like “a set of dominoes” and “remake the map of the Middle East—and not in America's favor.”

Steve Clemons is the Director of New America's American Strategy Program. For this complete article, please visit This Week Daily online.