Why it’s too late to stop World War 3 – according to one of Britain’s greatest military historians
Can Iran create nukes? Will China invade Taiwan? As the world tilts towards global conflict, we are asking the wrong questions
Richard Overy
23 June 2024
Imagine, for a moment, that the Iranian government announces it has developed a nuclear bomb and threatens to use it on Israel. The United States reacts with the threat of military intervention, as it did in 1991 and 2003 in Iraq. Iran signals that it will not tolerate a third Gulf war and looks for allies. American forces mass to enter Iran, which orders national mobilisation. Russia, China and North Korea express their support for Iran, and Washington expands its intervention force, bringing in a British contingent. Russia enters the game, raising the stakes in the expectation that the West will back down. A nuclear standoff follows, but with tense and itchy fingers on both sides, as leaders gamble on the risk of not striking first, it all ends in disaster. The Third World War begins with an exchange of nuclear fire, and the rest, as they say, is history. (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/world-war-three-too-late-history-violence/)