Donald Trump’s new tactic with Iran: waging war by trial and error. After a weekend of intensive airstrikes on the country that were coordinated with Israeli forces, the US military succeeded in decimating the top of the religious and military leadership in Tehran. The first three American soldiers were killed following Iranian retaliations against several countries; the risk of a regional conflagration remains high.

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,” said the US president in an address on Sunday, March 1. He also gave numerous quick-fire interviews to the press. To hear Trump speak, the course of the war does not seem like a carefully thought-out scenario, with step-by-step planned objectives, identified contacts on the ground or a polished argument.

On Saturday, the very day the regime was toppled, Trump joked in an interview with Axios: “I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs].” On Sunday morning, speaking to The Atlantic, the tycoon claimed he was open to diplomacy, after having advocated the day before for a regime change. “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them.” In the afternoon, he told the Daily Mail about the war: “It’s always been a four-week process.”

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