Donald Trump has enough people pushing him this way or that on Iran. But it is clear that Iran has no strategy that will keep the US happy. They could form a new civilian government, but the mullahs will just murder them all and return to power.
I have a suggestion. In computer software development, the sponsors sometimes create what is called a "sandbox". It is an area that holds an early version of the software they're developing. The public gets to play with this early version of the software, to see how their own software interacts with it. Everyone gets to discover how to cope with it, before it is formally released to the public.
Trump should declare Iran to be a sandbox country. The US could use it as a testing ground for all of the weapons systems it is developing. And warfare tactics. Big countries like to engage in periodic wars for this purpose. The US could use Iran as a designated testing zone. The US appoints a grand sandbox master, and sandbox masters for a handful of the major services. When Iran decides to stop being the US's punching bag, maybe they will seriously negotiate.
