Donald Trump, President of the United States [AFP=Yonhap News Agency],
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 18th, local time, citing associates and aides of President Trump, that throughout the war with Iran, President Trump struggled with fear behind his public bravado.
Early in the war, President Trump expressed admiration for the scale of U.S. airstrikes, but as Iran quickly moved to block the Strait of Hormuz and energy prices soared faster than expected, his confidence began to waver, the aides reported.
The WSJ reported that before the war, President Trump told his aides that “Iran will surrender before they block the strait,” but later expressed dissatisfaction with the vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz.
As anxiety grew, close aides repeatedly advised him to refrain from impromptu interviews, saying that contradictory messages about war prospects were not helping public opinion.
President Trump’s anxiety was starkly evident when two U.S. pilots went missing on the 3rd; those who spoke with him at the time said he shouted at his aides for hours until he eventually left the meeting room.
It was reported that he was unable to attend the rescue operations meeting for the pilots and only received major updates over the phone.
Kori Schake, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), pointed out that the lack of victory despite astonishing military achievements was due to “a lack of attention to detail and absence of planning.”
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