Trump escalates confrontation with Iran as US carrier deployment wipes out any remaining diplomatic exit routes Right, so Donald Trump has put a carrier strike group back into the Arabian Sea, moved long-range strike aircraft forward, reinforced missile defences across the region, and done it all while threatening “far worse” action unless Iran submits to a deal. I thought making deals was an art form to Trump – not very good at it is he! But that combination has already taken away the only thing that ever made this feel controllable, which is deniability. Once the threat is shouted and the hardware is parked in public view, everyone plans for the consequences, not reassurance, and the fantasy of a tidy, limited episode stops working because it relies on a sense of restraint that’s already gone. You can hear the strain in the language now, the in ...