Opinion: Why Trump's new year fireworks will backfire

With the assassination of Qassem Soliemani, Trump has ordered what his predecessors avoided for fear of potential catastrophic fall out, writes former Italian diplomat and MEE contributor Marco Carnelos.

“Surely, it will be a gesture that will strengthen his image among his political constituency in an election year,” Carnelos says.

But in the end, he argues, Iran will play a long game, and gradually change the region’s balances in ways that are detrimental to the interests of the US and its allies.

“In other words, if this US escalation was a deliberate choice to push Iran into a reckless reaction in order to blame it for the start of a new regional war - quite an easy task with the current state of mainstream journalism - some sorcerer's apprentices in the Beltway may be sorely disappointed.”

Read more here, including why those who bought Saudi Aramco shares should now thank Trump.