So.
Which Path to Persia?
I wanna go through the book's list of paths in short, and take a look at it through the lens of the other book I just wrote about above, the US Foreign Policy in Perspective.

The book was published by Brookings Institute, supposedly the US's most cited think tank, so this might be the closest to get to a publication that was made along the debates politicians and bureaucrats, and a publication that is read by politicians and bureaucrats - especially by those in the State, Treasury and Defense departments of the US government, the three departments that conducts US's foreign relations. And the President.

The book reviews of the policy options to the problem Iran embodies. But what is the problem with Iran?
A. Iran tries to acquire nuclear weapons, but at least a nuclear program.
B. Iran supports various violent extremist/terrorist groups (eg. Hamas, Hezbollah, Talibans update: Houthis)
C. Seeks to disrupt Arab-Israeli relations and Palestinian peace process
D. Destabilizes the Middle East
Well one could point out Israel is doing great job in disrupting her relations with the Arabs and preventing peace with Palestinians, and that the greatest threat to the stability of the Middle East is the US herself, but this is about US's point of view.

Quick rundown of the options ("contents" essentially):
I. Diplomatic options
1. persuasion
2. engagement
II. Military Options
1. invasion
2. airstrikes
3. airstrikes by Israel
III. Regime Change
1. revolution
2. insurgency
3. coup
IV. Containment
1. containment
2. containment
3. containment

These options were all discussed by US administration, at the time of the writing of the book Obama's govt. put forward its strategy consisting of many of the options above, but mainly focusing on persuasion. The book criticizes the Bush administration's approach which also followed persuasion. The book actually makes difference between the two they are quite biased towards Obama, calling Bush's implementation heavy-handed, I don't think that actually mattered any.