Trump accused of planning 'devastating' Iran escalation

President Donald Trump reportedly has a plan for how to win the Iran War after the midterm elections — and one senator who saw it described the idea as "insane."

"A senior lawmaker said he’s been briefed on the war plan Donald Trump is expected to unleash after next Tuesday’s midterm election," reported The Daily Beast's David Gardner on Thursday. "Sen. Chris Murphy said he couldn’t give details of the Iran War blueprint, but he described it as “insane.”"

Gardner added that according to Murphy, Trump's plan for Iran would “likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law," adding that "it will not achieve objectives and will set off a new cycle of escalation.”

Gardner continued, "Speaking at the Middle East Institute on Thursday, Murphy said he had a “fairly detailed conversation” about Trump’s war plans and predicted it will lead to “devastating escalation” of the conflict with Tehran. “You’ve heard a preview that it would be a short-duration plan. I will just say this: their plan is insane.”"

Earlier this month, CNN similarly reported that Trump plans on dramatically escalating the war against Iran once he no longer has to worry about winning the midterms. Indeed, the Iran War has proven so controversial that Trump has had to worry about it impacting his chances, even though usually foreign policy does not impact those elections.

"It's a widespread assumption among political strategists that foreign policy rarely matters in U.S. elections," former Washington Post columnist and podcaster Greg Sargent said in September. "But what if Donald Trump's failures on this front are so disastrous and destructive that he's about to break this rule too? Trump's Iran fiasco is getting worse, and newly leaked photos show dramatic damage to the U.S. abroad. On Russia and Ukraine, he buffoonishly proclaimed that he'd secured an agreement that neither would attack the other's energy sources, but then, that blew up in his face."

"Sufficient forces are now deployed in the region to carry out the potential attacks, the sources said," CNN reported. "The scope of new US military operations would likely go beyond efforts to simply 'mow the lawn' or maintain the status quo by striking radars, launchers and other Iranian assets that can be quickly reconstituted — as has been the case since Trump halted full combat operations earlier this year, the sources added."

Speaking to Australian journalist Tom Switzer in August, University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer pointed out that from a simple geopolitical standpoint, Trump lost the Iran War.

“It’s very simple... he has no choice,” Mearsheimer told Switzer. “He lost the war. This is a devastating defeat for the United States. Can you tell me what the United States should do to regain leverage over Iran? I actually think you can’t tell me because we have no solution.”

He added,“One, he’s out of munitions. Number two, our Gulf allies have told him, in no uncertain terms, that is unacceptable because the Iranians have made it clear that if we escalate, they will escalate, and they will destroy oil facilities, desalination plants, and so forth.”