The fires of the Middle East are in their sixth week. Across the Persian Gulf, the world watches a grinding, three-way psychological chess match between Washington, Jerusalem, and Tehran.
The dynamics are disparate. In Washington, Donald Trump finds himself haunted by the political spectre of a mid-term election year: he needs the war to end soon. In Jerusalem, Israel, having claimed only 50 percent of its pre-war objectives are achieved, views time as an ally. Under the American security umbrella, every extra day of conflict is an extra day to dismantle Iranian capabilities. Meanwhile, Tehran plays the long game. Despite 15,000 targets being struck, 2,000 dead, and 61,000 buildings being damaged, their strategy is to make the price of aggression so high that they are never targeted again.
