There is no carrot you can give the Mullahs, no stick short of defeat in war, that will persuade them to abandon their nuclear weapons program. Possession of nukes, they figure, will enable them to achieve their fondest dreams. Those include the destruction of Israel, Iran as the premier hegemonic power of the Middle East, great power status for Iran (and themselves), the ability to terrorize other people from afar, the leadership of all Muslims, the deterrence of any attempts to hold them to account for terrorism they support or direct, and probably the eventual destruction of the the US. If anyone doubts that last intention, they should ask themselves what part of “Death to the Great Satan” they don’t understand.

Compared with these aspirations there nothing, nothing at all, to tempt them to abandon nukes. If all that seems mad, recall that these are people who believe that the Mahdi is coming soon, that is the end of the world is coming soon, and it’s their duty to prepare for his coming by causing maximum chaos. Obama and his fellow incompetents are going to be rolled by people who are smarter and more accomplished at diplomacy than they are.