Trump’s Iran adventure is going so swimmingly that he could be our first anti-imperialist president by destroying the American empire.

In a way that history doesn’t repeat but rhymes, Trump is behaving like Croesus, ruler of the Lydian Empire. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Croesus considered attacking the Persian (Iranian) Empire of Cyrus. When he consulted the oracle of Delphi he was told that if he invaded, he would “destroy a great empire.” He did so and the oracle proved correct, but the Persians were victorious and the empire that he destroyed was his own.

Trump, our first billionaire president, is “rich as Croesus”, but the oracle he consulted was himself. As is becoming clearer from President Trump’s statements and those of his staff, along with press reporting, the US has launched a major war without the input of the experts who are there to advise the President on such matters. The State Department, Pentagon, National Security Council Staff, Defense Intelligence Agency, and NSA were simply bypassed because, as White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, President Trump “had a feeling” Iran would attack.

Iran had been warning for months – since the last US/Israeli surprise attack in June – that if they were attacked again they would not hold back on US bases in the region and that they would close the Straits of Hormuz. Trump and Netanyahu attacked anyway, and Iran has done what it said it would do.

This is surely one of the worst military disasters in US history. There are no military options available beyond the unthinkable: the use of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz is closed, oil is about to go out of control, and the global economy, along with the US dollar, is set to crash.

Similarly to Croesus, Trump launched his war against Persian with the full expectation that he could achieve regime-change against the heavily overmatched Islamic Republic. But the indications are that Iran is prevailing, and if the US’s bases are destroyed and naval forces are driven from the region, the hold of the American Empire over the oil wealth of the Gulf will probably come to an end. Under such a scenario, Trump may indeed achieve regime-change just as he boasted, but the regime that was changed would be his own.