Earlier this week, Donald Trump threatened to annihilate Iranian civilization.

Then he said he would work with Iran to collect tolls at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.

What will he say tomorrow?

Nobody knows.

If you're having trouble keeping up with the president's ever-shifting understanding of Middle East reality, welcome to the club.

Tonight, how Trump went from Apocalypse Now to Apocalypse possibly later. Next.

This is Washington Week with the Atlantic. Good evening and welcome to Washington Week.

Earlier this week, President Trump claimed, quote, total and complete victory over Iran.

100% no question about it, he said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hexseth added, Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming

victory on the battlefield, a capital V military victory.

Epic Fury decimated Iran's military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council had another view.

Quote, the enemy in its cowardly, illegal, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable,

historical, and crushing defeat. So that's obviously not true. But are Trump and Hexseth right

to claim victory for themselves? If it's truly a victory, why is Iran in at least partial

control of the Strait of Hormuz? And why are the anti-American theocrats who

have been in charge of Iran for 47 years still in charge? To figure all this out, I'm joined

tonight by Anne Applebaum, a staff writer at The Atlantic. Karim Sajapur is a contributing

writer at the Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Gillian Tett is a columnist and a member of the editorial board of the Financial Times and head of

King's College, Cambridge.

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