Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC

Sounds.

Thank you for downloading Analysis, the radio program about the ideas that shape the world. This week in war gaming Iran, Edward Sturtin asks where

the conflict over Iran's nuclear program can be averted. It's my estimation that a military strike designed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is the least that option.

My assessment in this is that there is a probability that Israel would strike during 2012.

If the US or Israel start they would retaliate they would not sit at home and I

cannot imagine the US would be safe the US diplomats, personnel, they would be safe anywhere in the

war.

A war with Iran over its nuclear program is more likely today than it's ever been. That's one

thing, very often the only thing that those we've spoken to for this program seem to

agree on. President Obama's intray is full of the dangerous problems of the Middle East, but this dossier stands

out, pushed to the top of the pile by the widespread suspicion that Iran could very soon fulfil

the ambition to be a nuclear state.

In this week's analysis we'll war game the crisis.

What would the consequences of armed conflict be and can it be avoided.

The principles, Iran, Israel and the United States, share a long history of mutual mistrust.

Israel's current government has been banging the toxin of alarm about Iran's nuclear ambitions

...