A lot depends on Washington's timeline, and Ahmadinejad's character and ability. We may or may not have time to do anything.
First, Ahmadinejad's character and Washington's greed: obviously the cheapest solution is for Washington to buy Ahmadinejad, like it bought New Delhi, if Washington is ready to settle for less than a full neo-con prize (neoliberal economics + a pro-Washington and pro-Tel Aviv government in Iran).
Second, Ahmadinejad's ability and, again, Washington's greed: the next cheapest solution is for Washington is to cut deals with Khamenei, Rafsanjani, et al. -- i.e., the clerical gerontocracy and the Iranian ruling class -- behind Ahmadinejad's back, and to have him killed or ousted, if Washington is ready to settle for less than a full neo-con prize.
But, so far, Ahmadinejad hasn't yielded on the main points of contention, so the first option appears to be a non-starter. Ahmadinejad may be able to survive coup or assassination attempts if he is a capable man who has a large following in Iran's military, militias, and masses in general (I can't judge that yet -- we'll see).
Moscow and Beijing are not keen on wrecking Iran. Moreover, Washington may be too greedy to settle for either of the above options. Then, we got a little time on our side, a period during which a lot can change in the US economy, too. We may still be unable to help anyone or even ourselves, but sticking single-mindedly to the Lost Cause -- modern Iraq is lost, gone, destroyed already -- certainly won't do us or the rest of the world any good. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>