Fears Iran and Israel's rivalry 'could spark World War 3' with Vladimir Putin 'rubbing his hands'

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has sparked fears we could soon see World War Three, with some suggesting Russian President Vladimir Putin will be rubbing his hands at the prospect.

It comes as Israel and Iran seem ready to go head-to-head. There has been tension between the two for decades after the Revolution of Iran back in 1979, with Iran’s ruling mullahs often chanting “death to Israel” and denying it exists.

Despite this, they’ve never attacked Israel directly until now. Instead, they would send weapons and money to anti-Israel terrorist groups, such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip, or Hezbollah in Lebanon. More recently though, Israel bombed a clandestine meeting of Iranian military and terror chiefs in the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday, April 1 and it led to tensions boiling over.

There have been warnings conflict in the Middle East will lead to mass murders

Israel has been waging its own clandestine struggle to sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme as it wanted to prevent them from developing “The Bomb”, which they fear could turn their anti-Israeli chants into a mass-murder reality. Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute, Oxford, told the Sun: “Some Western observers think Iran will confine itself to a tit-for-tat attack on an Israeli embassy somewhere or launch a cyber offensive and get Hezbollah in Lebanon to fire a few more missiles into northern Israel. But Israel, and now America and Britain too, are more and more certain that this time Iran will attack.”

He explained that Washington has told diplomats linked to the region to “lie low”. He added that westerners in the Middle East could end up caught up in the crossfire, saying the West and Iran “are arm-wrestling already.”

An unexploded missile found after Israeli forces withdrew from part of Gaza earlier this month

Mr Almond believes America and Britain are regarded as the main enemies behind Israel – with some referring to the US as the “Big Satan”, while the UK is the “Little Satan”. Military generals have been in the US to try and coordinate the possible responses from Washington to any outbreak of violence.

Mr Almond added: “Remember, the Americans have been leading campaigns against Iran’s allies, the Houthis, in Yemen as well as against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria. The West and Iran are arm-wrestling already. Britain, like America, has personnel and bases across the region from Cyprus to the Gulf. Both of us have a naval base in Bahrain, just across from Iran itself.”

The expert doesn’t believe Iran has the power to destroy Israel, explaining is a country that doesn’t have nuclear weapons yet. Despite this though, any conflict could lead to mass casualties in the Middle East – even more than since Iran and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq slaughtered hundreds of thousands in the 1980s.

Tensions between Iran and Israel are rising after an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria

Mr Almond believes it will be the “AI war” where controlled missiles and drones will play a bigger role than manned aircraft. He went on to explain how some Iranian hardliners want to send troops to the Syrian-Israeli border to try and repeat similar human wave tactics used against Saddam.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown how disruptive Iranian-made drones can be and the latter has spent 40 years developing modern missiles of its own. If anything was to happen, Israel would look to deploy its “Iron Dome” defence system against the missiles. This has been very effective against the primitive missiles launched by Hamas but Iran has developed sophisticated warheads which might out-manoeuvre or swamp Israel’s defences.

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Experts have said that despite Iran not having nuclear weapons there could be many deaths

Mr Almond added: “A large-scale war between Iran and Israel will have a horrendous human price. Even if it doesn’t go nuclear — and I don’t think Israel would use The Bomb in their arsenal unless facing defeat — missile strikes and drone attacks will cause civilian casualties, as we have seen in Gaza.

“The worst case is that a powerful Iranian missile, like the Kheibar, damages Israel’s nuclear plant at Dimona. A radiation leak would be another Chernobyl but Israel might see it as in effect a nuclear strike, and hit back with its actual nuclear warheads. That is the worst case scenario. Even without it, Israeli bombers will likely fly deep into Iran and knock out its nuclear research facilities.”

He continued, adding how Putin would be a winner in the conflict as it would bump up energy prices which in turn would pay for his war in Ukraine. China and India are big oil importers, so bosses in Beijing and Delhi don’t want to see a real war which could drag their economies into a depression.