I see some type of conflict as inevitable, the question is whether it will occur before or after Iran has nuclear weapons. I'd rather that confrontation occurred before they have nukes, because if they use them it's a whole new world.

No, I don't trust fanatics to not use them just because the U.S. and Soviets went so many years playing MAD and not tossing nukes at each other. We used them to end WW2, but to me that only served as justification to never use them again.