At least one Iranian leader is already on record as follows:

TEHRAN 14 Dec. (IPS) One of Iran’s most influential ruling cleric called Friday on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only".

"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.

I would not be certain at all that a nation run by psychotics would be unwilling to consign half their population to flames if it meant the destruction of a foe like Israel. We have a class of fanatics that is perfectly happy to kill their own people for a cause, and has no problem living in caves when necessary. And I doubt they're going to put the matter to a vote of their people.

Deterrence worked on Russia, and even China, because basically they like being alive.