Most people who are politically knowledgeable think that the Iranian threat is largely a Middle Eastern threat that Israel has grappled with for generations and that it will need to grapple with for many more decades. 

This is all an incorrect way of observing the realities of the Iranian threat in the Middle East. 

First of all, Iran does not merely threaten Israel in the Middle East – it threatens Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, and Yemen. Israel is their main short-term focus, but there are many countries that are in the vicinity that are all very concerned about the growing power of the oil-rich Iran.