Flynt Leverett, who was on President Bush's national security staff, hopes for an entirely new approach toward Iran -- what he calls a "grand bargain."

"The next president of the United States, whoever he is, needs to reorient American policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran as fundamentally as President Nixon reoriented American policy toward the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s," Leverett says.

Speaking at the New America Foundation this week, Leverett said he thinks U.S. diplomats are trying to keep options open for the next president. LINK to audio