Behind the bombast, Trump will be worried: when he tries to stop the war on Iran, will anyone listen? | Simon Tisdall

Though the president wields great power, the conflict in the Middle East is spiralling in unforeseen ways that he may not be able to control What a pity Benjamin Netanyahu remains at large after an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza was issued in 2024. Had he been detained, as he certainly should have been, the peoples of Iran, Lebanon, the Gulf – and Israel itself – might have been spared much present-day pain and suffering. The Israeli prime minister’s lifelong, passionate obsession with eradicating the real and imagined threats posed by Iran was reportedly a key factor in prompting Donald Trump’s abrupt, unprovoked plunge into all-out war.