Jonathan Levin, Columnist

Peace Through Profanity Is Not a Winning Strategy

Trump's threatening rhetoric only makes it harder for Tehran to accept a deal. In the meantime the world economy is feeling the strain.

Not known for his patience.

Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP

I’m Jonathan Levin and this is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a compilation of Bloomberg Opinion’s expletive-free opinions. Sign up here.

On Easter Sunday, President Donald Trump amped up the rhetoric against Iran with a Truth Social post that threatened to hit the country’s power plants and bridges and warned the regime to “open the F****** Strait!” (He didn’t use asterisks.) Today, he brushed off the idea that such attacks on civilian infrastructure would constitute war crimes because the country’s leaders killed their own citizens and are “animals.” Later on, he added that the “entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.” This ever-escalating rhetoric, Marc Champion writes, will only make Trump’s miscalculation with Iran even worse.