The first lesson of war is ‘know your enemy’ – and Britain’s enemy now is Donald Trump | Simon Tisdall

<p>As the Iran disaster escalates, Starmer should treat the US president as someone whose actions threaten the lawful, democratic way of life everywhere</p><p>Nine days in, the conduct of the unjustified, illegal <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-justification-operation-epic-fury">US-Israel war against Iran</a> grows ever-more disproportionate, dishonourable and deranged. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/04/us-submarine-torpedo-iran-warship-sri-lanka-coast-pete-hegseth">torpedoing of an Iranian navy ship</a> off Sri Lanka by a US submarine demonstrated that for reckless Donald Trump, the whole world is his battlefield. Diplomacy, treacherously sabotaged by Washington, has been replaced by unceasing airstrikes that are murdering and maiming hundreds of Iranian civilians. Trump’s White House increasingly resembles a madhouse. War aims shift daily. A clueless, rambling president <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/05/iran-war-latest-updates-canada-carney-trump-israel-tehran-strikes?filterKeyEvents=false&amp;page=with%3Ablock-69a9c8648f08ef977b47047b#block-69a9c8648f08ef977b47047b">insists he must help pick</a> Iran’s next ayatollah. Meanwhile, his “secretary for war”, Pete Hegseth, rants manically about killing without mercy.</p><p>Nine days in, it’s clear<strong> </strong>Iran’s leaders, those who survive, are not going to roll over in a repeat of Trump’s Venezuela coup. Their forces, though drastically outgunned, are succeeding in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/world/europe/iran-war-strategy-trump-israel.html">spreading pain across the Middle East</a>, inundating defences with waves of drones and missiles. That’s no surprise. Iran <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/1/khamenei-warns-us-of-regional-war-if-iran-is-attacked&