The US’s role in the rise of communist regimes | Brief letters

American foreign policy | Donald Trump’s self-reflection | Tony Blair’s Toryism | Keir Starmer on Whatsapp | Nine times table

Patrick Wintour’s analysis of the similarities between the Vietnam and Iran wars (Could Trump’s Iran ‘excursion’ be a bigger global turning point than Vietnam?, 31 May) states: “The predicted ‘domino effect’ of communism sweeping south-east Asia … did not materialise, save in Cambodia and Laos.” The changes in these two regimes would not have happened if the US had not carpet-bombed large parts of these countries, neither of which was at war with it.
David Rennie
Cardiff

• “I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time,” says Donald Trump (Iran threatens to suspend peace talks after ‘violation of ceasefire’ in Lebanon, 1 June). Is this a rare moment of self-awareness?
Andrew Gore
Linton, Cambridgeshire