Israel is currently at war with Iran. Despite being non-nuclear, Iran could draw Israel into a protracted conflict involving "only" conventional missile and drone weaponry. Quickly, any such conflict in which both sides would seek "escala-tion dominance" and wherein the Israeli side might not be sufficiently advan-taged could compel a time-urgent decision in Jerusalem: (1) threaten calibrat-ed and plausible nuclear reprisals, or (2) submit to seemingly interminable at-trition warfare. Though the first option would amount to making threats of "asymmetrical nuclear war," it could still represent the most rational and cu-mulatively humane approach to Israeli national survival. In the final analysis, Israel can only succeed in its current war if it prevents Iranian nuclearization.