A stark WW3 warning has been sounded following huge explosions heard in Iran over the city of Isfahan early this morning.
Home to a major airbase and one of the countries top nuclear facilities, the explosions, which have rocked the country, are reportedly a retaliatory strike by Israel, following Iran’s first ever direct attack on the country last week, where, according to US officials, more than 300 drones and missiles were fired.
This was in direct repose to the 1 April attack on the Damascus consulate that killed at least seven officials, including a top Iranian commander. Airspace was shut down around the city of Isfahan following the apparent attack earlier today, which has led to Iran activating its air defence systems overnight after reports of the explosion, as tensions reach boiling point in the Middle East.
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Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gives a speech on the meeting in Tehran, Iran on 8 July, 2014. (Photo by Leader.ir - Pool/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) (Getty Images)Iranian state TV said all the nuclear sites were safe following the attack. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also confirmed this. The serious escalation of events has led to world leaders expressing fears that the conflict could lead to further escalation in the region, with all sides called upon to exercise restraint.
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The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has warned that the Middle East was in a "moment of maximum peril,” while the UK government has urged Israel and Iran to step back from the brink and de-escalate tensions.
Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, told Sky News: "We do think that de-escalation is absolutely key now. And our message to all in the region, including Israel is that de-escalation is really important.” The minister added that Lord Cameron was consulting his G7 counterparts, while Mr Sunak said he is working "urgently" with allies to "de-escalate the situation and prevent further bloodshed".
Iran's state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan on April 19 (AFP via Getty Images)The recent attacks and dangerous ‘tit-for-tat’ has further fanned the fears of WW3. With territorial lines continually crossed, the threat of a Third World War is now more ingrained in the public consciousness than ever before. UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, warned earlier this year that we are now moving: “from a post-war to pre-war world.”
Washington Post columnist, David Ignatius, has previously said: "it's a moment that eerily evokes the dynamics of summer 1914, when a war that every power sought to avoid suddenly appeared inevitable, with consequences that no one could predict”.
A top Iranian commander has warned of a shift in its nuclear stance if Israel threatens its atomic sites. Ahmad Haq Talab, a Revolutionary Guards Commander who oversees the security of Iran’s nuclear installations, said Tehran could review its long-standing "doctrine and nuclear policies," in which Iran has insisted it’s running an atomic program only for civilian rather than military ends.
According to the Financial Times, he was quoted as saying: “Reconsidering the nuclear doctrine and policies of the Islamic republic of Iran . . . is probable and imaginable, if the fake Zionist regime threatens to attack our country’s nuclear centres." His comments were published in the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s most powerful military force.
According to Sky News, Israel possesses 39 state-of-the-art F-35 stealth fighter jets, the fifth largest inventory in the world, while Iran is known to possess at least 42 long-range surface-to-air missile launchers, including 32 Russian-made S-300 launchers that it acquired in 2016.
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