Trickery: The Iran war continues to supply paradox, contradiction, hypocrisy, and deceit, as if its western players refuse, like adamant children, to accept how combat works. A case in point is Britain’s angry accusation that Iran was unfairly “lashing out” after it fired long-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean island with British and American bases. So far, so good. But wait. The attack, a failure, came a day after Britain formally gave the United States permission to launch combat missions against Iran. That is what Tehran responded to, and in terms of warfare, it was entirely justifiable. But in this conflict, double standards and trickery are the norm. The American ruler sends jets to rebomb a nuclear plant he claims was “obliterated” in raids last June. One day he suggests he might deploy U.S. ground troops to secure the Strait of Hormuz, the next he shrugs that off by saying “we don’t use it,” clearly inviting Europe, which depends on the strategic seaway, to protect its own interests — a backhanded way of getting it to enter the conflict. If this war is indeed a video game, it is badly in need of those better able to program it, preferably one or two schooled in the outbreak of World War I.