It can’t be both ways. Either way the administration is lying, so I just don’t trust any of the reasons given for the current conflict.

The sad part is this is exactly what Trump and his administration, as well as the larger Republican Party, have wanted for years. My inherent distrust of every government action until I see overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

It can be over time. A country can rebuild its nuclear ambitions after they've been completely destroyed.

Do you think Iran just gave up their nuclear ambition and 40 years of work after a bomb raid? "Think Mark, think"

Needlessly patronizing. But moving past that, how could their capabilities have been “completely obliterated” months ago and yet they are now so close to making a bomb that it warranted all this? That doesn’t make any sense. Just like the tariffs or any other controversial decision, the administration is giving different answers to different people at different times. They seed talking points, they do not provide useful information.

So again, either June was a failure and they lied or they are lying about this attack.

The thing about nukes is that they massively disincentivize military attacks on your sovereignty. That strikes me as a perfectly legitimate reason to acquire them.

If that's as far as your logic takes you, there's no point arguing with you further.

>Despite decades of antipathy and ongoing conflicts over Kashmir they have managed to restrain themselves from firing one at India

You think India is OK with Pakistan having nukes?

India (which also has nukes) may hate that Pakistan has that capability, but there's nothing they can do about it. I'd say Pakistan is considerably more secure with than without. And despite being an Islamic country with a nexus to terrorism they haven't blown up any western countries.