The long-term outcomes of the latest U.S and Israeli air war against Iran remain very much uncertain.

But we do know this: President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are determined like never before to shatter the Iranian regime. And they have the firepower to do it.

We also know that while Trump may well succeed in breaking Iran, he appears to have no plans to fix it after the bombs and missiles stop falling.

The Iranian people and whatever remains of the central government will be left to rebuild – or possibly to sink into civil war – on their own. This is not Iraq in 2003, and Trump has shown zero interest in nation-building.

Trump is breaking Iran. Will he follow other presidents in 'buying' it?

Every American president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama followed some version of the Pottery Barn rule (“if you break it, you buy it”) of warfare.

That approach worked spectacularly well in........

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