In order to contain Iran we had to take down Iraq. Don’t forget the Qadeer Khan proliferation network was very active right up to the war in Libya, Egypt, Mali, Malaysia, South Africa etc., and while the press named SOME of the nations involved in it they deliberately did not name them all. Two went unnamed at least. Syria and Iraq most likely.
It was in Libya where we found Iraqi scientists working- in fact Obeidi worked there - the scientist in whose rose garden in Iraq we found a prototype for an enrichment centrifuge along with reams of docs and specs for the nuclear program.
You can’t understand the last thirty years of proliferation and IRaq without understanding the Qadeer Khan network, whose scientists were also involved directly with al Qaeda. This network allowed collaboration among various rogue states and enabled states under sanction to dodge inspectors by outsourcing elements of their weapons programs.
I don't follow you there. It seems to me the destruction of the Baath Party in Iraq was a boon to Iran.