And Mr Trump is going to find it more difficult than Iran to claim victory credibly. What has his war really achieved?
A HARD SELL
The president will point to the destruction of Iran’s navy and air force, but these barely existed before the war. His claim that the US significantly diminished Iran’s missile and drone stockpiles and ability to replenish them remains contested, with CIA intelligence reportedly estimating in May that Iran retains about 70 per cent of its pre-war arsenal.
Mr Trump could assert that he achieved regime change in Iran by killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and numerous other senior political and military figures. But the regime remains intact. All that has changed are the faces.
He has also claimed to have set back the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme by light-years. Mr Trump creates his own reality, but the key question he will have to answer is whether his alleged successes justify withdrawing in 2018 from the 2015 international agreement that curbed Iran’s nuclear programme and created the Strait of Hormuz crisis with its fallout for the global economy.
With fuller negotiations on the nuclear programme only set to begin after the memorandum is signed, there are few details with which to measure success. In that regard, Iran had reaffirmed that “under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons” in the 2015 agreement.