It was doomed before it even started. Operation Epic Fury, Donald Trump’s foray into Iran, which began six months ago, went against the advice of the US military and security services; no allies were consulted, save the Israelis, who recruited America into what was their private war with Iran; and it lacked any plan, realistic targets or exit strategy.As has now been widely acknowledged, what Trump once childishly called his little “excursion” has turned into the most stupid war America has ever involved itself in, exceeding Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq both in its misconnection and its baleful consequences. It was, above all, the work of one man: President Donald J Trump. As usual, he thought he knew best. It was clearly the wrong war for America to intervene in, not just because it was so senseless, but because there were others where US power and prestige could have been more fruitfully deployed.The most obvious is, of course, Ukraine, where, had Mr Trump continued the policies of his predecessor (and of his own instincts in his first term, when the trouble was brewing), it is quite conceivable that Ukraine might well have prevailed by now, armed as it would have been with all the weaponry and anti-missile defences that have been squandered in and around the Persian Gulf.A Ukraine that is independent, free and at peace would by now be a member of Nato, one of its strongest components, and on the way to joining the European Union. Vladimir Putin might not have survived his defeat, and Russia would have returned to the path of righteousness.Even if none of that has come to pass, simply staying out of Israel’s war on Iran was the obviously wise thing to do from the outset. Half a year on, that is now beyond doubt. In terms of timing, the war on Iran was decided upon when the factors that might have led to success were not in place. There was insufficient international preparation (assuming that was ever going to be contemplated); and, more crucially, the mood of the Iranian people was misread, perhaps for lack of intelligence, perhaps because the Americans didn’t care. Whatever forces of resistance, freedom and liberation were still present after their brutal suppression by the Revolutionary Guards previously, they were not strong nor numerous enough to bring about that most elusive of American foreign policy dreams, “regime change”. One of the greatest betrayals in US history came when President Trump told the people of Iran that “help is coming” when it was not. Fortunately, the Iranians were shrewd enough not to trust Mr Trump.As for the casus belli in Iran, that was sometimes clear, but too often not, and constantly shifting. Regime change came and went, much to Mr Trump’s evident surprise; this was not another Venezuela.No matter how many mullahs and generals the Americans and Israelis executed, more popped up to replace them, less well known to the spies but generally more militant and less amenable to a “deal”. They tainted the president with viciously satirical “Lego” videos, deliberately ridiculing a man who has the thinnest skin on the planet to Lear-like impotent rage. In any case, the Islamic Republic has survived. There was no “unconditional surrender” as Mr Trump demanded, nor did Iran volunteer its oil reserves to be placed under US control, nor its Supreme Leader to be picked from a menu by Mr Trump.The Americans also wanted to end the nuclear threat, which was, to some extent, under control before the war and was about to be settled under a deal brokered by the Omanis in January when Benjamin Netanyahu sensed the whiff of peace, picked up the phone and persuaded Mr Trump to join him in a once-and-for-all victory move against a shared historic foe.Iran is still in possession of its “nuclear dust”, as Mr Trump terms its supply of enriched uranium; most of its nuclear scientists are still alive; and in Russia and North Korea, Iran has some useful allies who know all about nukes and evading US sanctions.The principal US war aim now is to free the Strait of Hormuz and rescue the world from the energy crisis. It is too painful to point out that the Strait was free to all nations a little over six months ago. No one knows that more keenly than America’s shaken allies in the Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. As Mr Trump would say: “They’re not happy.” If only John Lennon was around to compose a ballad for this American debacle, as he did towards the end of Vietnam – something that reflects on the futility of the exercise, the lives lost, the money wasted, even the munitions exhausted, and all because one man knows how to get into a mess but not how to extract himself from it.In a few more months, it will be Christmas. The signs are that, even by then, the war won’t be over. How much longer, Mr Trump?