As it is, the Iranian regime has proved more resilient than Mr Trump
seems to have expected. The decapitation tactic of assassinating the
supreme leader seems to have turned out as we warned it would. It has
succeeded only in replacing an ageing hardliner with a younger, more extreme hardliner.
As we report, Iran has told Abu Dhabi and Dubai to clear their ports, which suggests that the US attack on Kharg Island, far from persuading Tehran to pull back, is provoking further escalation.
The Independent View
Donald Trump’s miscalculation has been exposed
Editorial: Two weeks after the strikes on Iran began, the U.S. president’s confused war aims lie in ruins
With the two-week war already hitting Americans in their pockets, it is as well for Mr Trump that he does not have to face the voters again. The sudden silence and low visibility of vice president JD Vance, who hopes to succeed Mr Trump, speaks volumes of the popularity of this conflict.
We suspect that Mr Trump is driven by an ambition beyond
vote-maximisation; that he believes his own propaganda about bringing
peace to the world, and that he is looking for his place in history.
- That is the only explanation that makes sense of his choices, misguided as they may be.
- He wants to make peace in Ukraine, unaware that appeasing President Putin is prolonging the war.
- He wants to make peace in the Middle East, and was persuaded by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, that the ayatollahs’ house of cards needed just a puff of high explosive to come tumbling down.
Instead, he has intensified the “forever war” in the region, and embroiled America more deeply in it. As Bel Trew reports from Lebanon and Donald Macintyre reports from the West Bank, Israel’s confrontation with Iran is part of a wider campaign of assertiveness.
- Two weeks on, Sir Keir Starmer’s wisdom in staying out of the conflict, except for limited and lawful defensive action, has been vindicated.
- Mr Trump’s folly in mistaking war for peace has been exposed"
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