Trump headed for disaster over Iran war gamble as 'pivotal moment' looms: analysis

Donald Trump's war with Iran is set to reach a critical moment that will see the president's project come close to disaster.

The unpopular war with the Middle Eastern country has raged on for much of March, but Trump is now facing the consequences of his rhetoric in the lead-up to war. While the president and his administration had given a multitude of reasons for why they were striking Iran, no reason has stuck or convinced the American people of the bombings, CNN analyst Stephen Collinson claimed.

Collinson suggested one of the advantages Iran has over the US is its location, and that most in the States would find it hard to continue caring about a war that has made the cost of living crisis that much harder.

The analyst wrote, "America’s distance from such theaters also explains why foreign wars become finite once citizens wonder why they are fighting other peoples’ battles with American blood and treasure.

"Trump’s failure to properly prepare the country for this war and to define clear goals and an exit strategy make him especially vulnerable on this point as a pivotal moment in the war looms.

"Barring a sudden transformation of a region soaked in blood and the collapse of a regime that has defied the US for nearly 50 years, he will soon face a dilemma familiar to many modern presidents. Does he manufacture a false or partial victory and get out? Or does he get sucked in deeper?"

History is not on Trump's side either, Collinson suggests, as the US has fought wars in a similar vein to Iran before and hardly ever succeeded in their initial aims.

"Tehran has no doubt consulted the playbooks of previously outgunned US enemies," he wrote. "In Vietnam, Communist Viet Cong guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army melted into thick jungles where they had the advantage over US troops.

"In Iraq, the collapse of the Iraqi state led to the rise of insurgencies and sectarian militia that created killing grounds for US troops.

"In Afghanistan, the Taliban waited nearly two decades for America to leave, emulating forbears who endured over Soviet and British Empires.