The aims of Donald Trump’s latest war are blurred with constantly shifting rationale for unleashing mayhem in the Middle East. There are suggestions he was bounced into striking Iran by Israel, there is no sign of planning for this explosive conflict’s conclusion, and there are now hints that the President, who posed as a peacemaker, may have to send in ground troops to seize Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

At least Britain can give thanks that Sir Keir Starmer has largely resisted the heavy pressure from both Washington and naive right-wingers at Westminster to join the onslaught, although the impact of these grim events will be global and long-lasting.

Trump remains typically bullish after flexing his nation’s military muscles again in his egomaniacal desire to reshape the world order into subservience to the United States and its power-crazed President. Like so many politicians who have never witnessed the terrible realities of war, this former draft-dodger seems all too ready to send armed forces into battle, desperate to display strength regardless of legality or the consequences.

“How do you like the performance?” he asked one TV host crassly. “We’re doing very well militarily, better than anybody could have even dreamed,” he told another. “I’d rate it a 12 or 15 out of 10.”

Pete Hegseth, the former Fox TV commentator who was ridiculously appointed US Defence Secretary and changed his title to Secretary of War, declares the Iranian regime to be “toast” due to the “two most powerful air forces in the world” His macho posturing – revelling in carnage and contempt for “stupid rules of engagement” – is grotesque. There is no doubt, however, about the destructive intensity of the US-Israeli military campaign.

Yet the bigoted clerics and brutal thugs running Iran have failed so far to buckle to Trump’s demand for “unconditional surrender” – despite the death of their supreme leader, pummelling attacks on more than 3,500 targets, and destruction of much of their navy. 

They have responded by choosing Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, as new leader while inflicting death and destruction across their region with swarms of drones and missiles fired into the skies, striking as far afield as Azerbaijan and Cyprus while killing US troops and Israeli civilians. The surviving remnants of the regime – despite relentless bombardment – have managed to launch more than 2,000 drones along with hundreds of missiles against at least 10 countries allied to their attackers. These have hit military bases, communication hubs, data centres, diplomatic buildings, energy infrastructure and even tourist facilities to set nerves jangling far beyond the theatre of war. 

The world’s most powerful nation, with its formidable armed forces, deep-rooted intelligence, massive spending and unrivalled technology, has failed to learn the most obvious lesson of the Ukrainian war: that cheap, mass-produced drones have changed warfare by enabling weaker nations to resist stronger forces with attritional tactics. As a result the US – locked in the traditional mindset of military power – has burned at an alarming rate through its costly, limited stocks of advanced anti-aircraft weaponry to thwart these waves of Iranian drones. Washington fired 800 Patriot air-defence missiles costing at least $2.5bn over the first five days of conflict. “You can’t replace those kinds of missiles overnight,” said one analyst. “It would take years.”

I first glimpsed this new military age a month before Russia’s full-scale invasion when buzzed by a reconnaissance drone on the Donbas frontline, before a burst of gunfire from Moscow-backed separatists, forcing me to run for cover with Ukrainian troops. Both sides have learned very fast, scaled up production, adapted military strategies – and now unmanned vehicles dominate the battlefield on land, air and sea. Russia relied heavily on Iran’s low-flying Shahed drones, importing them before producing their own smarter versions with Chinese components. It is a hideously cost-effective weapon at £26,000 apiece even when fewer than one in 10 hit their targets, since they grind down morale and defensive weapon systems.

Trump bullishly claimed the US had a “virtually unlimited supply” of critical munitions – yet on Friday he called in bosses of the biggest American military contractors to urge them to ramp up production of air defence armaments. His spokeswoman lashed out at “stupid and incompetent” Joe Biden for giving away “many of our best weapons for free to a country very far away by the name of Ukraine”.

Instead of its usual insults, the White House would have been wiser to seek Kyiv’s help since it is at the cutting edge of drone warfare in both attack and defence. The country, fighting for survival, has become a world-leading innovator in the use of artificial intelligence, cheap interceptor drones, lasers, listening devices and even military procurement to rapidly develop methods to destroy Moscow’s airborne onslaught.

“There are only two countries in the world that really know how to fight this new type of war: Russia and Ukraine,” the head of a drone maker in Kyiv told me last year when I visited his factory. An expert in new generational warfare explained how their doctrine of drone-led combat arose from a desperate need to deploy asymmetrical tactics against their much bigger foe. Some interceptor drones cost less than £1,000 each.

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Yet it seems Washington’s arrogant politicians and military planners – who spent several weeks assembling their massive attack force with Israel – seemingly failed to consult with Ukraine before launching an attack on Tehran that is costing American taxpayers $1bn a day and creating such regional disruption.

Now President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered his nation’s expertise to Gulf states under attack, while saying he is responding to a US request for “specific support in protection against “Shaheds’ in the Middle East”. Hopefully Kyiv will receive effective payback. I wrote after my visit to the drone factory how the West and its allies would one day look for help from Ukraine in fighting robotic techno-wars. That day has come already.

What exquisite irony that after Trump’s disgusting attacks on Zelensky, his disgraceful belittling of Ukraine and his grotesque pandering to the Kremlin, that now we see the mighty global superpower seeking Kyiv’s help to fight this deranged war and defend its allies.

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