Iran’s appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader has been likely since the day US-Israeli air strikes “martyred” his father. It became inevitable the moment Donald Trump said he’d be an “unacceptable” choice for the US, better known to those doing the selecting as The Great Satan.

Trump’s tone-deaf demand was just the latest in an accumulating body of evidence that suggests the US president profoundly misunderstands his opponents in Tehran. That failure to “become your enemy,” as ancient China’s The Art of War advised, may now be threatening the future of the global economy.

© Bloomberg