Foreign Affairs

Whatever the degree of the physical damage to Iran's nuclear program may be, it is the preponderance of strategic regional failures in addition to decades-long commitment of resources that went to waste in a matter of days, and the consequent loss of face for the regime that is likely to serve as a future deterrent to Iran's commitment to it.

What Iran knows now that they didn't know before is that the details of their nuclear program are not as well-hidden as they thought and their resources are not as protected as they thought. And the price they may have to pay for continuing with it may be catastrophic to the regime.

In hindsight, the political consequences of Iran reviving their program is likely to far outweigh the incentives to rebuild it.