Trump’s ‘war leader’: coherence or rupture? What happened in a few weeks On January 28, Trump announced that «a huge armada is heading towards Iran.» On 13 February, he stated that regime change would be “the best thing that could happen.” On 24 February, during the State of the Union address, he accused Iran of restarting its nuclear program. Indirect nuclear negotiations were nevertheless taking place in Muscat and then in Geneva. On 28 February, Israel and the United States launched a joint operation, targeting military officers and strategic installations, and resulting in the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Is Trump coherent? Apparently not, but there is an internal logic. It’s paradoxical. What is happening now suggests something much more ambitious than coercive diplomacy. Trump framed this confrontation as the culmination of a 47-year relationship of adversity between the United States and Iran, since 1979. There are therefore two possible readings: 1. The reading of........

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