The skies have been lit up by missile strikes, with both Iran and Israel firing on each other. It all started when Israel took aim at an Iranian nuclear facility and other military targets in something known as Operation Rising Lion. With Iran saying there would be 'severe punishment', it wasn't long before Iranian missiles rained on Tel Aviv. Revolutionary Guard leader Hossein Salami, nuclear scientist Fereydoun Abbasi, theoretical physicist Dr Mohammed Mehdi Tehranchi, and Major General Gholam Ali Rashid were all killed, and in response, hundreds of drones have been flown to Israel.
Iran told others not to get involved, and while President Donald Trump apparently warned against killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Canada's G7 summit is expected to be crucial in seeing what happens next. World leaders are hoping to pin the President down on what his plans for the Iran-Israel conflict are, and amid fears that World War III is about to be triggered, others think we're already in the midst of it.
Alongside concerns that others will be dragged in, Professor Anthony Glees, an academic in security and defence and a lecturer at the University of Buckingham, warned the Mirror how these attacks could be used by Russia as a 'blueprint' for World War III. Glees thinks he knows how things will play out, explaining: "First, that Iran hits back hard, is supported by its admittedly weakened proxies, Hezbollah, the Houthis and what's left of Hamas, as well as its chums in the region and beyond."
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This could allow Putin and the likes of China or North Korea to make a move on the USA, with Glees adding: "We recall that Putin is firing Shahed drones at Ukraine and secondly that our enemies and adversaries, Putin, Kim Jong-Un and Xi see a weakened USA under Trump, and deduced, as Netanyahu has done, that now is the time to pursue their own bugbears in Ukraine, South Korea and Taiwan.
"Naturally we hope this won't happen. But if it does, I think what Israel has been doing since about 3am give us a blueprint for what could happen to us here in Europe."
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Glees reminds us that there's 'no doubt' that Europe's primary enemy will be Putin's Russia, and if that's the case, it will surely extend to the USA.
There are obvious fears that the USA will be dragged in, with accusations that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been angling for its support in defeating Iran. It's thought that only the USA has the required 'bunker-busting' bombs that would be needed to take out Iran's nuclear facilities. Although the POTUS has promised he wouldn't start any "forever wars," there are many Republicans who support Israel's stance and say now's the time to strike in Tehran.
Trump hasn't said much, although he has confirmed that embassy staff have been moved out of Iran. Discussing the escalating situation, the President said: "They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens.
"They can’t have a nuclear weapon. Very simple—we’re not going to allow that.”