"Are we sliding toward war with Iran?"

"Are we sliding toward war with Iran?" - a good question to ask
"Amid all of this, the one place that the United States has resolutely marched forward—or perhaps been dragged by the Congress and our European allies—has been in applying ever greater pressure on Iran. But if the Obama administration’s forward progress is clear enough when it comes to its Iran policy, its ultimate destination is not. The sanctions against Iran may well succeed on their own terms while producing regrettable, if unintended, consequences.

[...]


Doubtless such a war would leave Iran far, far worse off than it would leave us. But it would be painful for us too, and it might last far longer than anyone wants because that is the nature of wars, especially wars involving this Iranian regime. Thus, if we continue down this path, we had best be ready to walk it to its very end. And if we don’t have the stomach to realistically prepare for war, we should seriously reconsider our current embrace of sanctions."

 My comments:
1. If not war and not sanctions, what does the authors of the article suggests? Allowing Iran to have nuclear arms might be "fair" from the "progressive" point of view, but it also would be irresponsible from the point of view of the Worldwide safety (ironically, this is very similar to the claim that making guns freely available for self-defense would reduce the number of violent deaths - something with which the "progressive" community correctly disagrees.)

2. The next legitimate question to ask is why US is sliding into war, rather than preparing to have it on its own terms and at the time of its own choice? Isn't such a hands down approach the most certain way to maximize the damage that the eventual war will cause?