Trump 'losing control of events' as both outcomes of Iran war are 'failures': expert

Donald Trump's war with Iran is set to be a massive failure no matter the outcome, according to a security expert.

The president's administration must either pull out of Iran or declare their mission a success, but both moves would make Trump look weak, The Mirror's Christopher Bucktin has claimed.

Bucktin wrote, "This is what American leadership looks like now. The post lays bare something far more dangerous than bluster. It shows a man losing control of events, of strategy, and increasingly of himself.

"The Escalator-in-Chief has now backed himself into a corner from which there is no easy escape. Either he follows through on his threats - escalating the conflict further, risking a catastrophic regional war that could engulf the Middle East and send shockwaves across the world - or he backs down again, declares some hollow 'victory', and exposes the emptiness of his own rhetoric. Neither path is strong. Both are failures."

Bucktin went on to suggest Trump does not understand that the stakes for the Iran war are so high, and that he has no idea how to bring a conclusion into place.

"For a man who built his image on dominance, this is the ultimate trap," Bucktin wrote. "Trump has spent a lifetime bullying his way through problems - threatening, bullying, paying off, and walking away.

"That may have worked in business deals and reality TV theatrics. It does not work on the world stage. Iran is not a contractor to be intimidated.

"The Middle East is not a boardroom to be cleared with a raised voice and a cheque. And now, faced with that reality, Trump is resorting to the only playbook he knows: escalate the language, raise the stakes, and hope the other side blinks first.

"The most damning reality is this: Trump created this moment. He chose escalation over restraint. He chose confrontation over clarity. And now, with no clear endgame, he is improvising in public and the world is left to deal with the consequences. There is too much at stake."