If a country you're at war with and whose leadership has stated that they intend to annihilate you is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, the stakes are arguably WW2-tier.
Conversely, American and Israeli politicians constantly talk about taking out Iran, making nukes a necessity for their self-defense.
In both cases it's mostly posturing, but killing scientists and saying we had to, it's self defense is especially disgusting to me.