The Iraq War was pushed through under the claim of preventing Iraq from obtaining Weapons of Mass Destruction, which presumably could have included nuclear weapons.

The Bush administration sold the claim in part because of aluminum tubes which they claimed could be used to create ballistic missiles. Clinton, who herself voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, is aware that parts that could be used to build ballistic missiles is pretty much fungible with nukes in a lot of American's minds.

It's not the commenter who is trying to equate missiles with nukes, it's the American political discourse that posited and accepted this claim nearly 25 years ago.

No the point, as I understand it, is that with enough missiles, enforcing the JCPOA becomes impossible. Iran can dominate other regional powers, cause global suffering, decide they want to build nuclear weapons after all and not much can be done to stop them. As we are seeing, they are powerful enough now that Trump isn’t having an easy time winning, and it may even impact the midterms it’s that bad.