Watched the original Aladdin yesterday and this occurred to me. Once Jafar acquires the lamp, his first wish is to become sultan. All that seems to do is just give him a fancy new pair of clothes which he ditches 30 seconds later. Jasmine and her father still refuse to acknowledge him as ruler, so it clearly did not change anyone's minds or reality. So then Jafar uses his second wish to become the most powerful sorcerer to make them respect and fear him.
Why not just use that as his first wish? It would have accomplished the same thing in allowing him to take over Agrabah, and then he'd have two extra wishes to save for a rainy day. If you want to say that he wanted to be seen as the legitimate ruler, well couldn't he have still gone with his original plan of forcibly marrying Jasmine to gain the throne after the fact?
Why not just use that as his first wish? It would have accomplished the same thing in allowing him to take over Agrabah, and then he'd have two extra wishes to save for a rainy day. If you want to say that he wanted to be seen as the legitimate ruler, well couldn't he have still gone with his original plan of forcibly marrying Jasmine to gain the throne after the fact?