FROM OUR REPORTERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

NOT SINCE BENITO Mussolini attacked a broken France in June 1940, has a world leader been so desperate to grab the spoils of victory earned by the talent and sweat of another nation.

Donald Trump is demanding unconditional surrender from Iran, a country with which the United States is not at war, and has not even exchanged a single shot in anger.

“In what can only be described as a purely leveraged warfare play, the American President appears to be using his Israeli stock to launch a full US bid for Iran,” says Bernie Paydoff, a New York stockbroker who has made a fortune betting on conflict over the decades. “Everyone and his mother is shorting Teheran at the moment, but the Donald is so long Israel that he’s using that to launch a hostile bid and telling the Iranian chief executive it’s time to resign. Let’s see what happens. This ain’t over yet.”