If hitting 11,000 targets and a months-long siege fail to produce an Iranian collapse or surrender, what will a "short and intense" military campaign produce - apart from Iranian and Houthi retaliation against shipping, pipelines and airports, another spike in the price of oil, a public spike and more regional casualties? If reports like this are just the umpteenth time since the April ceasefire that Trump has threatened to escalate to get a "better deal," more power to him. But if it is an actual operational plan, it is likely to prove itself as unproductive as the previous rounds.

If hitting 11,000 targets and a months-long siege fail to produce an Iranian collapse or surrender, what will a "short and intense" military campaign produce - apart from Iranian and Houthi retaliation against shipping, pipelines and airports, another spike in the price of oil, a public spike and more regional casualties? If reports like this are just the umpteenth time since the April ceasefire that Trump has threatened to escalate to get a "better deal," more power to him. But if it is an actual operational plan, it is likely to prove itself as unproductive as the previous rounds.