By Editorial Team of TLF OPINION | FROM DAWN “IRAN militarily is effectively over,” the US president declared on Monday following talks with the Qatari prime minister. “We’re just keeping it the status quo … at the behest” of Iran’s neighbours. The Gulf states include some of Donald Trump’s biggest benefactors, and they have borne the brunt of Iranian military retaliation. Trump has also acknowledged that the domestic unpopularity of the US-Israeli war on Iran contributed to the comprehensive thrashing his Republican Party received in last week’s midterm elections, yet insisted he had no regrets because the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon remained paramount. That’s an absurd premise in a variety of ways; besides, Iran is unlikely to consider the conflict over as long as it is militarily menaced by a superpower or its regional proxies. By Mahir Ali First published in Dawn on 11 November 2026 What’s notable, though, is that unlike ...