US President Donald Trump faces pressure to secure a short-term win in Iran before his upcoming visit to China in May, amid concerns about a potential protracted conflict in the Middle East.

The recent surge in US service members in the Middle East suggested the Iran war could become a protracted, low-intensity conflict as Donald Trump eyes his trip to China in May, Chinese military analysts said. The deployment of elite forces and the American president’s recent tactics in Venezuela indicated Washington was highly aware of and seeking to avoid a costly drawn-out war like Vietnam, they added. On Sunday, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that several hundred US Army...