First of all, it serves no useful purpose for Christopher Hitchens to refer to Mahmoud Amadinejad as "clownish".
Secondly, the term "soft power" is not to be found in the lexicon of the central government of the United States, which is best described by the prescient words of Gen. Robert E. Lee on Dec 15, 1866, when he stated that the central government is "aggressive abroad and despotic at home". Diplomacy is not Washington's best suite - aggression seems to be the dominate gene in the central government's DNA.
Thirdly, the central government of the US has no desire to assist Iran. Au contraire, it is the singular goal of the central government of the US to impose draconian sanctions against the people of Iran, to humiliate the people of Iran, and finally to launch preemptive war against Iran, a la neighboring Iraq. The Iranians know this, the Americans know this, and the rest of the world knows this.
Any offer of "asistance" from the central government of the US will be looked upon as a Trojan Horse by Iran. Do you think the Iranians actually would believe the US central government would at one and the same time starve innocent Iranians through sanctions while helping them to predict the possibility of earthquakes? Does the term wolves in sheeps' clothing come to mind?
