Trump's shock Iran strikes take us to brink of global conflict and will strengthen Axis of Evil alliance, experts warn
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TRUMP'S historic strikes against Iran could push the world to the brink of global conflict, experts have warned.
Wounded Iran has vowed to fight on, and at this very moment will be calling upon its allies to gather against the West.
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The Ayatollah has refused to back down even in the face of the US's decisive action
Credit: AFP
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Putin will be eager for Iran to disrupt the global oil industry
Credit: AP
While Israel has stamped out much of Iran's power in the Middle East, the regime retains formidable allies with equally anti-west interests.
Experts believe Trump's strikes could force the axis of evil closer together, and set in motion a chain of events that embroils more countries in the conflict.
Philip Ingram, a global defence expert, told The Sun: 'Iranian ballistic missiles will not reach the United States and therefore to try and respond to the United States attack Iran's going to have to do something different.
"It'll bring its axis of evil. That means Iran, Russia, North Korea and China.
"We are a couple of feet further up the escalation ladder towards a global conflict."
North Korea showed its willingness to get involved with other wars when Kim sent 12,000 troops over to fight on Russia's front line with Ukraine.
With Iran increasingly desperate, North Korea could step in and provide military aid such as "missile technology", Ingram said.
Russia has been one of Iran's most vocal allies, and has warned all along that regime change would be "unacceptable".
The Kremlin said the assassination of Iran's supreme leader would "open the Pandora's box".
Ingram said that 'Iran and Russia will join forces to try and cause as much disruption in different countries as possible."
Watch Trump hail 'very successful' bombing on Iran's nuke bases
Russia is well-versed in the dark arts, and has propagated a campaign of sabotage against the West, so would have plenty to teach Iran.
Forcing Iran and Russia closer together is not the only way US strikes could impact on Putin.
Ingram said: 'The escalating conflict helps Russia by moving Russia-Ukraine further down the agenda so that people aren't focusing on it.
'It also ties up international geopolitical organisations and politicians in a complex Middle East situation - so again they don't have the capacity to focus on what Russia's doing in Ukraine."
Chip Chapman said that the most immediate threat to western allies would be if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz - which could even see the UK dragged into the conflict.
He said: "20 percent of the world's oil runs through the strait. Closing it could have huge implications for the oil price.
'And that's where the Brits may get involved. If the Iranians were to try and close the Strait of Hormuz, there would be a definite ask from the Americans to the Brits."
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President Donald Trump ordered major strikes against Iranian nuclear targets
Credit: AP
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Iran struck back almost immediately with waves of missiles into Israel - causing serious damage in Tel Aviv
Credit: Getty
Russia would likely back Iran's decision to close the strait, because an increase in oil prices would help fund its activities, Ingram explained.
For many years Iran enjoyed considerable power in the Middle East through its proxies across the region.
Two of the key players were Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon - but over the past 20 months Israel has seriously crippled them.
However, Ingram says the Houthis in Yemen still pose a threat to the world other.
He said: "I think we will see a massive uptake in Houthi activity in disrupting international shipping in the Red Sea."
Experts have also warned that the strikes could prove a "slippery slope" and commit the US to pursuing more extreme military goals in Iran - such as overthrowing the regime.
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Houthi supporters hold anti-US and Israel placards during a protest this week
Credit: EPA
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Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted following the US strikes
Credit: Reuters
Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst at the Johns Hopkins School, said: "Beware mission creep, aiming for regime change and democratization campaigns.
"You'll find the bones of many failed US moral missions buried in Middle East sands."
US-driven regime change would likely drive a wedge further between the West and the Islamic world - as was the case with Iraq - the experts suggest.
Ingram said: "If there Ayatollah was killed it could change the whole way the government is set up in Iran, like we had with the fall of the Shah.
"Then you whatever comes in next could be worse than what's in now and more polarised."
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The US strikes could also prove a spark to other flash points around the world - such as the China-Taiwan tensions.
Ingram said 'China will likely sit back and wait to see what's happening, to begin with.
"Xi Jinping might think the international community is so tied up in the Middle East, that he has a window of opportunity, and he might try and take Taiwan.
'The world is not just a more febrile place, but the potentials for a series of events to happen to take us into a global conflict have just become even more complex to try and analyse.
'We haven't moved away from conflict. We have moved away from a despot regime getting towns on nuclear weapons, but it's not made the world immediately safer.
'What happens over the coming days and weeks will let us understand as to whether we have moved back from the brink of a global conflict or move further forward.'
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'This mission was not and has not been about regime change,' Mr Hegseth added. Gen Caine said the goal of the operation – destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan – had been achieved. Vice president JD Vance, left, said the US is confident it has delayed Iran's ability to make a nuclear weapon (The White House/AP/PA) 'Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,' Gen Caine said. Mr Vance said in a television interview that while he would not discuss 'sensitive intelligence about what we've seen on the ground', he felt 'very confident that we've substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon'. Pressed further, he told NBC's Meet the Press that 'I think that we have really pushed their programme back by a very long time. I think that it's going to be many, many years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon'. 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It was not immediately clear whether Iran saw the avoidance of a wider conflict as in its best interests. Much of the world is absorbing the consequences of the strikes and the risk that they could lead to more fighting across the Middle East after the US inserted itself into the war between Israel and Iran. Air strikes starting on June 12 by Israel that targeted Iran's nuclear facilities and generals prompted retaliation from Iran, creating a series of events that contributed to the US attack. Iran targeted Tel Aviv with missiles in the hours after the US attack (Oded Balilty/AP) While US officials urged caution and stressed that only nuclear sites were targeted by Washington, Iran criticised the actions as a violation of its sovereignty and international law. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Washington was 'fully responsible' for whatever actions Tehran may take in response. 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Iran could try to stop oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, which could create the same kind of inflationary shocks that the world felt after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Oil prices have increased in the financial markets as the war between Israel and Iran had intensified, climbing by 21% over the past month. The Pentagon briefing did not provide any new details about Iran's nuclear capabilities. Mr Hegseth said the timeline for the strikes was the result of a schedule set by Mr Trump for talks with Iran about its nuclear ambitions. 'Iran found out' that when Mr Trump 'says 60 days that he seeks peace and negotiation, he means 60 days of peace and negotiation', Mr Hegseth said. 'Otherwise, that nuclear programme, that new nuclear capability will not exist. He meant it.' That statement was complicated as the White House had suggested last Thursday that Mr Trump could take as much as two weeks to determine whether to strike Iran or continue to pursue negotiations. But the US benefited from Iran's weakened air defences as it was able to conduct the attacks without resistance from Iran. 'Iran's fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran's surface to air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission,' Gen Caine said. Mr Hegseth said that a choice to move a number of B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians. He added that the US used other methods of deception as well, deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran's site at Fordo.
