Dubliner Tom Wright was an adviser to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan during the Biden administration, advising on security and strategic threats to the US, spending “about half my time on Ukraine”.

He is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at the Atlantic.

Wright may no longer be the most influential Irish person you’ve never heard of, but he has inside knowledge of how power works in Washington and a ringside seat to observe the way the Trump administration is changing the world.

This week in Washington, I asked him about war in Iran, the prospects for Ukraine and the future for Donald Trump.

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In Iran, Wright says, Trump is in “a real bind”. The Iranians have been more resilient than expected – expectations that the regime would just crumble were unfounded – and have targeted world energy prices by hitting facilities in the Gulf states and closing the Strait of Hormuz. These were developments that proper planning would have anticipated.

“They are good reasons not to have started the war in the first place,” he said.

I think there’s a chance the war just goes on. It could still be going on when Trump leaves office

I think there’s a chance the war just goes on. It could still be going on when Trump leaves office

He........

© The Irish Times