Attacking the problem with Iran

Maj. Gen. Robert Scales (Ret.):

...

Any campaign would have to be limited in scope with an objective no more ambitious than the elimination of Iranian nuclear weapons without any hope of regime change. The Iranians have dispersed and buried their nuclear facilities deep underground and are thus immune from an American bombing campaign. Another popular idea is the "Desert One on Steroids" approach that proposes using large numbers of special operating forces to conduct clandestine raids against hidden and dispersed nuclear facilities. Without a significant presence on the ground in Iran, such a strategy would only create a serious prisoner of war problem for the United States.
That leaves only the airborne "coup de main" option, doable with help from a robust international coalition and only remotely possible if we have reliable intelligence about the location of Iranian nuclear warheads, missiles and launchers. A takedown of Iranian nuclear capabilities would begin with special operations, light infantry and air transported light armored units arriving by an aerial bridge to establish forward operating bases, essentially secure but temporary enclaves, deep inside Iran near known nuclear facilities.
A sustained presence on the ground would buy time for ground units to fight their way into nuclear sites, positively identify exact locations of all nuclear capabilities and destroy them by direct attack or indirectly using precision munitions delivered by air. The key commodity would be time, sufficient to allow a careful search and complete eradication of Iran's nuclear arsenal. Once the mission is complete the force would withdraw by air back to secure bases outside Iran.
The bad news is that we cannot do this now. We lack sufficient transport aircraft and light ground maneuver vehicles to establish and maintain these enclaves inside Iranian territory. But we could build such a force perhaps before the Iranians detonate their first bomb. Such a capability would be expensive and would involve an extraordinary investment in land forces rather than air forces.
But if we are serious about preventing the Iranians from getting and using the bomb, we should begin building it now before we have no other option than a catastrophic nuclear exchange with a diabolical enemy.

The first part of his article is about what he thinks will not work. Scales is a smart guy. His book on the first Gulf War is the best I have seen on the subject. You may have seen him as an analsyst on Fox News. He is also the former commander of the Army War College.