Far from expressing remorse for his threat to bomb civilian infrastructure, Donald Trump is doubling down as we approach his deadline for Iranian submission: 8pm ET on Tuesday.

It’s not enough for the US to achieve a military victory – one that continues to elude him, with his stated goals for the war still unmet. Instead, “a whole civilization will die, never to be brought back again,” as he posted on social media. It then added that we are approaching “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World”.

That last point may actually be true, but it is hard to feel confidence in the commander-in-chief in the fifth week of a conflict that has extended well past its sell-by date, and a promise on 9 March that it would be “a short-term excursion”.

Trump has threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages”, a quote that came from Gen Curtis LeMay, who promised to bomb Vietnam “back to the Stone Age” in a 1965 book.

LeMay’s taunt was discredited at the time – in part because carpet bombing had little military effect on the Viet Cong, and only deepened skepticism toward a war that the US would go on to lose.

LeMay made other careless mistakes during his career at the top of the air force in the 1960s. At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, during an Oval Office meeting with Kennedy, he accused the president of “appeasement” for deciding to blockade Cuba rather than invade it. That conversation was taped, revealing just how disastrous LeMay’s advice was as the world stood on the edge of oblivion. Later, it was discovered that Russia had tactical nuclear weapons in Cuba, leading analysts to conclude that a nuclear exchange would likely have resulted if Kennedy had not trusted his instincts and worked toward a diplomatic solution.

Precise language was key to that successful outcome – Kennedy spoke in measured tones about the exact threat he faced. He avoided bluster, and took great care to provide an off-ramp for Nikita Khrushchev that allowed each leader to step back from the crisis. A year later, they had found........

© The Guardian