Iran war: Trump must change course now to avoid another Vietnam

Iran war: Trump must change course now to avoid another Vietnam Submitted by David Hearst on Tue, 07/21/2026 - 19:22 As Tehran raises the stakes across the region, the US and Israel appear stuck in a doom loop of their own making US President Donald Trump is pictured in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on 21 July 2026 (Saul Loeb/AFP) Off Like a slow-motion car crash, the US - Israeli attacks on Iran are morphing into a third Gulf war. Since signing a ceasefire deal that clearly recognised Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and forced Israel to halt military operations in Lebanon , US President Donald Trump has slithered and backtracked his way out of both commitments, resuming a full-scale and increasingly bloody war. Both Trump and the man primarily responsible for pushing him into this war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were poorly received at home for the ceasefire deal: Trump because he actually signed it, and Netanyahu because he was cut out of the process, amid a sense that Israel’s ally and armourer had imposed a premature peace.