1. The country is not down. The Iran-Iraq war was way more desastrous. And what ever happens in the near future, the ends justify the means.
2. A country can only get a nuclear weapon if at least one of the 5 permanent UN Security council countries allow it!
Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea only got the nukes because at least one of the major nuke countries WANTED them to have nukes.
But nobody wants Iran to have nukes....I don't think I have to explain why. And that's the reason for Khameneis fatwa.