Gen Powell, then secretary of state, was warning that wars can escalate beyond expectation and are harder to exit than enter. On Wednesday, a reckless war saw another dramatic escalation when Israel bombed the South Pars gasfield, which Iran shares with Qatar. Reportedly, Washington hoped it would put pressure on Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz; instead, and predictably, it has further intensified the conflict. Regional powers were already angry at Iranian attacks on energy assets, but the Israeli strike and Iranian response are of a different magnitude. Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, has called the conflict a “catastrophe” and warned that the Trump administration has “lost control of its own foreign policy”.

Source: The Guardian March 19, 2026 20:06 UTC