In a May 1, 2005, article for globalresearch.ca, Michel Chossudovsky makes a frighteningly persuasive argument that the Bush administration actually intends to attack Iran: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO505A.html.

The piece is detailed enough (at 4K words) that I am synopsizing it here.

Citing public comments by Dick Cheney that Iran is "right at the top of the list" of rogue nations and by Zbigniew Brzezinski that Cheney “used language which sounds like a justification or even an encouragement for the Israelis to do it," Chossudovsky argues that in fact what is intended “is a joint US-Israeli military operation to bomb Iran, which has been in the active planning stage for more than a year. The Neocons in the Defense Department, under Douglas Feith, have been working assiduously with their Israeli military and intelligence counterparts, carefully identifying targets inside Iran (Seymour Hersh, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/HER501A.html).”

The author states that the administration expects a US-Israeli bombing raid of Iran's nuclear facilities to stir up ethnic tensions and trigger "regime change" in favor of the US, unseating the Mullahs.

Regardless of internal administration boosting, however, any favorable pro-US and pro-Israel response is, to say the least, highly unlikely. As the author notes, Iran has already promised to retaliate against Israel if struck, and an attack on yet another Muslim nation would probably inflame all-out Middle East war.

Other writers and investigators have argued that such an attack is imminent. “According to former weapons inspector Scott Ritter, George W. Bush has already signed off on orders for an aerial attack on Iran, scheduled for June. (See http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/JEN502A.html).”

“The June cut-off date should be understood. It does not signify that the attack will occur in June. What it suggests is that the US and Israel are "in a state of readiness" and are prepared to launch an attack by June or at a later date. In other words, the decision to launch the attack has not been made.”

The author cites several signs:

• several high-profile military exercises in recent months, involving military deployment and the testing of weapons systems.
• military planning meetings between Washington, Tel Aviv and Ankara.
• a new Chief of Staff in Israel.
• intense diplomatic exchanges to secure areas of military cooperation and/or support for a US-Israeli led military operation directed against Iran.
• ongoing intelligence operations inside Iran have been stepped up.
• media propaganda against Iran has been stepped up, with daily reports on how Iran constitutes a threat to peace and global security.

Actions, events and initiatives in the past year include joint military exercises between Israel and several Arab nations, under the aegis of NATO; the assassination of Hariri in Lebanan; joint US-Israeli exercises pertaining to Patriot missiles; Donald Rumsfeld’s official visits to all the countries encircling Iran; and administration pressure on Mohammed Al Baradei of the IAEA for not being “tough enough on Iran.”

“The US has troops and military bases in Turkey, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and of course Iraq. 

In other words, Iran is virtually surrounded by US military bases . . . These countries including Turkmenistan are members of part of NATO`s partnership for Peace Program and have military cooperation agreement with NATO . . .

In other words, we are dealing with a potentially explosive scenario in which a number of countries, including several former Soviet republics, could be brought into a US led war with Iran . . .

Concluding remarks:     The world is at an important crossroads.”