Iran’s confidence may soon turn to folly in Trump’s fiasco of a war
By firing salvos of missiles at Israel, Iran’s leaders are rolling the dice on punitive retaliation and a return to all-out war. Their calculated decision to run that risk shows just how confident they feel. It was not supposed to be this way. When America and Israel launched their offensive exactly 100 days ago, on Feb 28, they gambled on the swift collapse of Iran’s regime, triggered by the efficient killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late Supreme Leader, and a small battalion of his ministers and commanders. Even after the Islamic Republic had survived decapitation, replaced its slain figureheads and begun hitting back by closing the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump still assumed that thousands of round-the-clock air strikes would force his enemies to yield to his demands. Instead, far from breaking under pressure, Iran is now levelling demands of its own. The regime insists that Israel must halt the offensive against Hezbollah, the Shia terrorist group in Lebanon, as the price for any wider deal with America to end the conflict. And they …
