This Globe and Mail article which just arrived in my inbox gives a reasonable synopsis of where trump stands in the midst of all the chaos he’s created.

Iran has a plan:

The strategic aim is higher oil prices and economic pain, which it hopes will push everyone from American allies to American voters to demand that the Trump administration back down. 

The gas pump is the global economy’s Achilles heel, and Mr. Trump’s.

trump doesn’t.

The Gulf states warned the Trump administration against starting this war, because it was obvious how Iran would respond. As predicted, it has used drones and mines – small, cheap, easy to deploy, hard to find – to target the six countries on the other side of the Persian Gulf, which collectively constitute the world’s largest oil exporter, and to prevent them from exporting oil through the narrow waters of the Strait of Hormuz.

None of us knows how this chaos is going to play out.

The current war … features remarkable feats of American military technology, but it’s difficult to see to what end. There are of course upsides in further weakening a weak Iran, but the many downsides seem to have been ignored. 

And the definition of victory? Mr. Trump said last week that the war would end when he felt it in his bones.

Iran is run by autocrats who are patient and know how to play chess. Mr. Trump is no chess grandmaster, and he is not patient. 

This war may end with Mr. Trump having to back down, leaving the global economy damaged and U.S. standing in the Middle East diminished. Or worse: Mr. Trump may call the Iranian bluff, as they have called his, by ramping up militarily – with results that could be far worse for the region, the global economy and the world.

You should be able to open the article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/ce1154b0fb7016029672dbecd2cb6d9f9042517ccd143b074f8c8c8ffb9fc4fe/34P6EAN6PVBS7IKFHZWG76TMG4/

It’s worth the 5 minutes it will take you to read it.