Prepare for the Inevitable
Pragmatically, I seriously doubt that the United States can offer anything to get Tehran to halt its nuclear program. This leads to one of two possible decisions: pre-emptive action to delay the program, or accepting the inevitable.
Contra Cohen, the most pragmatic thing for the United States to do is to expect nothing fruitful to come from negotiations with Iran — and to (nonviolently) prepare for the contingency of a nuclear Iran.
Yup. As I’ve suggested before, a first step might entail very formally and publicly extending our nuclear shield to Saudi Arabia and Egypt to prevent them from developing nukes of their own. But I’m not sure how the standoff between Israel and Iran would play out, and whether we have any power to avert tragedy there.