I was responding to the specific point you raised, bruce, which was to question how defensive missiles could ever reasonably be seen as threatening to anyone. In the past the USA has very clearly indicated that attempts to develop a Soviet ABM system would be viewed as a hostile act.

You are claiming that it is the deterrent effect of Iran's future weapons that will keep the US from attacking them? I didn't make that claim - though I would assume that the essential purpose of seeking to acquire such weapons would be the hope that it could act as a deterrent to attacks by hostile countries. The same reason Israel, for example,has developed and built up its nuclear arsenal.