Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a stark warning to Tehran’s leadership, vowing that any attack on Israel would be met with “a force that Iran has never seen before”. The declaration comes as tensions in the Middle East reach a dangerous new peak, fuelled by a volatile mix of nationwide protests in the Islamic fundamentalist republic, the arrival of a massive US aircraft carrier strike group, and bellicose rhetoric from Washington.
The prospect of World War 3 has shifted from a distant anxiety to an immediate geopolitical concern. Military experts warn that a major war in the Middle East could ignite a global conflagration by drawing in world powers through alliance commitments.