Before the world's most-wanted nepo baby could take up his job at the helm of Iran, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei had to attend to the broken limb, lacerations and, reputedly, even more serious injuries that he picked up in the blast that killed his murderous father, the unlamented ayatollah Ali.
Forced into hiding and hobbling in pain, Iran's current supreme leader isn't yet losing what an Independent editorial termed the "increasingly unpredictable and deeply unpopular war", started by the US and Israel.
On day 13 of the conflict, Washington remains hopeful that its sheer military might will bring Tehran to heel soon. But, as historian Mark Almond wrote, history suggests wars that between democracies and ideological regimes rarely end neatly: "Wanting democracy and freedom for Iran is not a wicked desire. Yet liberty dropped from a B-1 bomber is rarely a welcome gift."
For all the self-inflicted wounds the British prime minister has suffered this week due to his "weirdly rushed" appointment of Peter Mandelson to Washington, Keir Starmer has at least won public approval for keeping Britain at arm's length from the ill-judged US-Israeli Middle East venture.
And, for all Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey's posturing about the King's state visit to the United States next month, Sean O'Grady said pulling out at this stage would hurt the UK more: "We would be much worse off if Donald Trump, seized by vengefulness by a postponement, abruptly cancelled intelligence sharing with the British and access to nuclear missile technology in retaliation".
For James Moore, the Iran conflict has been a gut punch for the beleaguered British shopper, who can only watch as energy prices rise, mortgage deals disappear and booking a summer break is anything but a holiday. "Disrupting shipping routes and spreading the conflict are key parts of Iran's strategy," he wrote. "It wants the impact of Trump's adventurism to be felt as widely as possible."
Frieda Hughes, daughter of Sylvia Path and Ted Hughes, and The Independent's resident poet, was moved to write how the war sparked a profound and painful nostalgia for a holiday to Persepolis she took with her father. Read her moving recollections and the verse, called "Orgeast", they inspired here.
Sometimes it seems the only person having a "good war" is Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now on course for a landmark win in a general election, as soon as he decides to hold one. But Donald Macintyre suspects there's still trouble ahead: "For all the repeated declarations by Trump and Netanyahu that they are inseparable allies, they clearly have divergent political interests when it comes to the outcome and duration of the war. Nothing illustrates this better than Trump's declaration that the war was 'very much complete… pretty much", only for Netanyahu to issue his own implicit rebuke, saying: 'We're not done yet.'"
For his 13-day Middle Eastern misadventure, Trump now faces an $11.3bn bill (and counting). One day soon – perhaps come the midterms – he'll have a bloody nose to go with that mysterious scabby rash on his neck…
Until next week.
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