Donald Trump’s speech on Tuesday before the United Nations General Assembly was an object lesson in his lawless rule and remarkable capacity for self-delusion. Disregarding the UN charter’s emphasis on the peaceful resolution of disputes, he doubled down on his violent unilateralism while denigrating the global issues that the UN is designed to address.

For many, the headline remark was his musing about whether to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” of Iran. “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?”

But it was probably less a genuine threat than a clumsy effort to influence ongoing negotiations where he has little leverage. Trump is in desperate quest of some face-saving gesture that will allow him to feign “victory” and extract himself from his disastrous war of choice.

He spoke of destroying the “Islamic Republic”, which might imply the Iranian military, a legitimate military target. But his reference to precluding future generations suggests he meant to threaten the Iranian people. Attacking them would be a blatant war crime.

In July, he already vowed to destroy Iran’s bridges or powerplants – itself a threat to commit war crimes. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has charged four Russian military commanders for doing precisely that in Ukraine.

Trump didn’t even bother to offer a coherent rationale for his threat. Once more, he proclaimed that “I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” But Tehran has long disavowed that goal.

He claimed that other American presidents “just wanted to ignore” the issue. But Barack Obama negotiated a deal to constrain Iran’s ability to build a nuclear........

© The Guardian