Too many have mistakenly believed or chosen to believe that President Donald Trump is averse to war or was conducting subtle coercive diplomacy to obtain limited concessions from Tehran. If Trump cares deeply about a few things (think tariffs, Greenland, building the wall), on most other issues he is a vessel for others to steer with promises of swift victory and glory. Iran is one of these issues. His hawkish advisers and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have manoeuvred skilfully to get him to a place where war was inevitable.