Hyderabad, June 8 -- On Sunday night, June 7, Donald Trump told three news organisations the same thing: he was in control.

He told Fox News a peace deal with Iran was days away. He told Axios that Israel would not retaliate for Iran's missile strikes. He told the Financial Times that Benjamin Netanyahu "won't have any choice" but to accept whatever Washington decides, because Trump, not Netanyahu, "calls the shots."

By Monday morning, June 8, the Israeli Air Force had struck Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran.

Not the first time

It was the third time in six weeks that a Trump declaration about Israeli military action had been overtaken, that too within hours, by Israeli military action.

On April 18, after a ceasefire between Israel a...