Doha, Qatar
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With his latest Iran ultimatum looming on the near horizon, US President Donald Trump has pushed an anxious Persian Gulf region to the brink of further uncertainty and danger.
Already the Iran war, now in its fourth week, has seen thousands of people killed and injured, global energy prices skyrocketing, and vast swathes of the turbulent Middle East in the grip of appalling violence.
But Trump’s characteristically blunt ultimatum, delivered on his Truth Social platform at the weekend, that he would “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants, unless the Islamic Republic relaxes its tight stranglehold around the narrow Strait of Hormuz – largely blocked…