I am guessing that Subotai Bahadur’s 3 (or 4) nuke quote to finish Iran is based on non-blast effects. Two obvious ones are EMP, to cook any modern electrical/electronic infrastructure; and the paralysis of command/control and transport of food, water and other urgently-needed supplies. You wouldn’t need to annihilate the population, you could let it perish of starvation, thirst, disease, and social collapse. In 6 months there would be no Iran and very few Iranians. Just my uneducated guess.

Not that I would want to see that result. Most of those folks are quite innocent of the mad mullahs’ designs. But that wouldn’t protect them, any more than it would shield the average Israeli. Or American. War is hell.