Donald Trump‘s repeated attempts to end the war with Iran have ended in failure every time to the point he is now begging for ideas to save the situation – and his authority.
In an extraordinary move, a senior US military officer from Central Command’s intelligence branch emailed military analysts last week to try and crowdsource ideas for “new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran”, American media reported.
Since he launched his war alongside Israel more than five months ago, the US President has pursued a cycle of aggressive threats, followed each time by a climbdown and promise of talks.
As recently as Sunday he cancelled what he said would have been a “massive” attack on Iran’s military and energy facilities, telling reporters the US and Iran were “all set to go” on talks on a new deal to end the conflict on Monday. Iran, once again, denied any talk with the US were taking place.
But in the face of Iranian resistance and mockery, as well as warnings from Gulf allies, Trump and his self-styled secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, have failed to extricate themselves from a mess that is costing money, lives, and American power.
