The world hoped to hear that Donald Trump, reeling in domestic polls and bereft of strategic wisdom, was ready to end his reckless assault on Iran. His absurdly boastful address, vowing to persist, threatening war crimes, and offering no prospect of a negotiated exit, provoked an instant global response in falling markets and spiking energy prices.

Despite expectations that Trump would shuffle toward a conclusion to this ruinous “excursion,” no matter how undignified, he resorted instead to beating his chest and berating our allies.

“I want to provide an update on the tremendous progress our warriors have made in Iran and discuss why Operation Epic Fury is necessary for the safety of America and the security of the free world…We will continue until our objectives are fully achieved.”

Americans wondering what objectives Trump is pursuing and why may still be puzzled after this speech, in which he boasted of destroying Iran’s aging air force and navy while ruling out efforts to retrieve its large cache of highly enriched uranium or to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure has so badly disrupted the global economy.

Reiterating the childish rhetoric of dominance that appears in every Trump utterance, he invited listeners to “celebrate this progress,” insisting, “We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated both militarily and economically and in every other way…There’s never been anything like it militarily. Everyone is talking about it.” What everyone is talking about, in fact, is the astonishing vacuity of this speech, which explained nothing and resolved nothing.

While Trump said that the war’s “core objectives” are nearing completion, that claim depends on redefining the objectives that he and his administration announced at the beginning. Nobody except him believes that these weeks of bombing have achieved regime change in Teheran, where the Islamic Republic remains in power despite the deaths of previous top leaders. If anything, the successors of the late Supreme Leader may be even more radical and intransigent, having learned the hard way that negotiations with the United States are a meaningless prelude to missile strikes.

As for the Iranian nuclear program, Trump could only justify this war by spewing a series of ridiculous lies. The nuclear deal achieved by the US and an international coalition -- which he abandoned solely because President Obama oversaw its negotiation and implementation – would not have led to “a colossal arsenal of massive nuclear weapons for Iran.” Nor would they “have had them years ago, and…used them.” What they have is a stockpile of nuclear fuel which Trump said the United States would monitor via satellite – just as we could have done without any bombing campaign. His complaint that Obama’s agreement turned over $1.7 billion to Teheran rings with irony now that he has lifted sanctions on Iranian oil, which will bring at least ten times that amount to the regime’s treasury.

They can use those funds to rebuild their missile and drone arsenals, their damaged military production facilities, and eventually even their nuclear enrichment program.

So the most compelling rationale for Trump’s Iran misadventure is in fact no reason at all. He has achieved nothing to insure against Teheran building a nuclear weapon than the safeguards that existed a month ago, before we lost 13 Americans, many more wounded, thousands of Iranian civilians, including children, and tens of billions of dollars that could have been better used at home. His complaint

Behind the incessant chest beating that Trump constantly indulges is a distinctly less uplifting reality. Iran has learned that it can cripple international shipping through the Gulf and the United States won’t risk a naval mission to reopen it. Our allies and the rest of the world have learned that the US is an unreliable ally that will betray those who negotiate with us, wantonly inflict destruction, and leave the wreckage behind for others to manage.

Or, as Trump suggested last night, if the Iranian government refuses to meet his conditions for a ceasefire, “We are going to bomb them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.” Such a spree of war crimes against the Iranian people, whom he once promised to liberate, would be the ultimate disgrace – not just for Trump but for the country he has so badly betrayed.