BBC Expert Explains Why Iran War Is Going Wrong For Trump

A BBC expert has explained why the war is going wrong for Donald Trump – and why there appears to be no end to the conflict in sight.

Frank Gardner, the corporation’s highly-experienced security correspondent said American officials would have expected the regime in Tehran to have been defeated by now.

The US and Israel began bombing Iran nearly three weeks ago, and Trump has already declared victory on several occasions.

Nevertheless, the fighting is still going on, with Iran rataliating by attacking neighbouring countries in the Gulf.

Speaking on Radio 4′s Today programme, Gardner said “the Israelis have still got a pretty long list of targets they want to work their way through” in Iran, meaning the war is set to continue for a long time.

“They seem to be more aggressive than the Americans on this campaign,” he said.

“Donald Trump has got constraints on him that the Israelis don’t have.

“He was elected into office precisely not to do this kind of thing, to get dragged into a conflict with no easy off-ramps that’s got huge unintended consequences, like the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the driving up of oil and gas prices and instability in the area.

“He’s got his Gulf Arab allies saying ‘what are you doing? This is mayhem in our area’.”

Gardner added: “There must have been a presumption in both US central command and the White House that the sheer shock and awe of US military firepower, which is vastly superior to what Iran can muster … and yet the Islamic republic regime has neither crumbled nor capitulated.

“There must have been expectation that by hitting so many commanders, so many [Iranian regime] bases, taking out all their missile launchers, that they would just throw up their hands in despair and say ‘OK, we give up, what are your demands’. That hasn’t happened.

“Iran has been defiant right from the beginning.”