Constant job changes by Trump will only make the Iran crisis worse

Analysis: Trump has said he does not want war, but the muddled thinking in the White House will cause tensions to rise further

Donald Trump campaigned for the presidency on being against costly and long intervention in the Middle East, and yet, according to reports, planes were in the air and ships were in position ready to fire on Iranian strategic targets in retaliation for the shooting down of a US drone. To complicate matters further, Iranian officials said that, before Trump called off the strike, they had received a message warning a US attack was imminent but that the president was against war and wanted talks on a range of issues.

So how did we get in this position, with mixed messages in such a high-pressure situation? Trump’s lack of foreign policy experience is one thing, but the bigger issue is the revolving cast of advisers he has had on national security and defence issues in his two-and-a-half years in the White House.