Jeremy Bowen Calls Iran War Launch A Strategic Failure

A leading Middle East expert has branded Donald Trump’s decision to go to war in Iran “an absolute strategic failure”.

Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international affairs editor, said the US president’s vow to bring down the Tehran regime has not come true.

His comments came after Israel defied Trump by launching retaliatory strikes against Iran in a further blow to his hopes of securing a peace deal.

It is the first time the two sides have attacked each other since a ceasefire was agreed in April.

The US joined forces with Israel in bombing Iran on February 28, with the apparent aim of bringing down the country’s ruling regime and destroying its nuclear capability.

But despite repeated claims by Trump that an end to the conflict is imminent, no agreement on a permanent ceasefire has been reached.

On Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, Bowen said “Trump is coming up against the limits of US power in the Middle East”.

He said: “What’s happening in the last 24 hours or so is another sign of the absolute strategic failure of the war that was launched on February 28.

“If you think back to then, both Trump and Netanyahu said publicly that the regime in Iran would be weakened to the point of collapse and it hasn’t been.”

Israel’s military said it carried out strikes on targets in central and western Iran early on Monday morning.

That came after Tehran launched missiles on northern Israel on Sunday.

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