'It's wishful thinking'

Why threats and airstrikes won't change Tehran's path

- Peter Beaumont

During Israel's 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli jets bombed the Jiyeh power station north of the coastal city of Sidon. The blaze could be seen for miles, a towering column of black smoke.

Sand was turned to glass.

The plant's damaged storage tanks leaked an estimated 15,000 tonnes of oil into the eastern Mediterranean, the largest spill in that sea. Israel bombed the country's motorway bridges as well, destroying spans and cratering roads.

The result? In the short term, a ceasefire agreement to end the war was signed, as half-baked as it was over-optimistic. Israel, as it does after each of its conflicts, declared a victory. Hezbollah survived, rearmed quickly, and lived to fight another day.

As the deadline approaches on Donald Trump's threat to bomb Iran back to the "stone ages", the question arises not only of the morality and legality of such a campaign but also of its utility.