they only understand brute force. and i'm not necessarily talking military brute force. but they sniff out weakness and exploit it like no other country on the planet. what else can a president romney do? >> not much more on sanctions. greater international -- more clandestine things, reported about in the book. >> would a closer alliance with israel -- because we hear about it a lot. if the iranians understood we had a president that stood shoulder to shoulder with israel. >> i don't think that would change things. i would test the iranians, against the backdrop of real economic bleeding. i would make them a diplomatic offer and say, look, here's what we're prepared to live with, here's what we're going to allow you to have, and make it public. and if they turned it down, they would have to explain to their own people why they would turn down a chance -- >> hasn't this president tried that? >> quietly. >> through back channels.