Former NATO commander gives chilling WW3 prediction after Trump's 'big one is coming' warning

Richard Shirreff, the former deputy supreme allied commander of NATO in Europe, has warned that he “cannot remember a more perilous moment in geopolitics in his lifetime” - a damning indictment of the current state of affairs.

His comments come as military operations by the United States and Israel against Iran entered their fifth day on Wednesday. According to the US military, about 1,700 targets have been struck since the fighting began on Saturday.

Shirreff's criticism of Trump

Writing in the Mail, Shirreff criticised Donald Trump over strikes carried out last June against three Iranian nuclear facilities. At the time, Trump posted online that “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!”

Shirreff, however, argued that this evaluation was “clearly an error or a lie”. He also accused the president of having now “embarked on a new and far more perilous scheme of regime change […] with no overarching strategy to bring it to an end”.

He added that “unlike last June’s surgical strikes,” there is now “a growing sense in the Western military community that the latest campaign has already spiralled out of control.”

Shirreff also said he was surprised by the intensity of Iran’s retaliation, stating that it had “shocked even hardened observers”.

By Wednesday, Tehran had launched attacks that affected at least 11 countries. These included the United States indirectly through Kuwait and Britain via its base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

Shirreff warned that if the US were to get “sucked” into a ground war in the Middle East, both China and Russia would “waste no time” taking advantage of the situation.

In China, he suggested that Xi Jinping could “seize the opportunity to launch his longed-for invasion of Taiwan, perhaps as soon as 2027”.

At the same time, he claimed Vladimir Putin would “only double down” on the war in Ukraine as US military support and attention shift away from Europe.

Shirreff warned: “For all these reasons and more, I fear that future historians will look back at this week’s reckless attempt at ‘regime change from the skies’ as the final catalyst for a third world war.”

What is the current state of affairs?

Meanwhile, US and Israeli forces have continued targeting Iranian government, military and infrastructure sites as the conflict spreads across the region. Israel has also stepped up airstrikes in Lebanon, while Iranian retaliatory attacks in the Gulf have further heightened tensions, with the Middle Eastern country successfully neutralizing targets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Qatar.

On Tuesday, a fire broke out near the US consulate in Dubai during the latest round of strikes.

The situation has also sparked intense political debate in Washington, where several opposition Democrats have questioned and condemned Trump’s decision to carry out the attacks on Iran.

Shirreff concluded with a stark warning: “Now the fate of the world depends on how quickly America can extricate itself from the messy and dangerous situation unfolding in the Middle East.

“Add war in Europe and war in Asia to war in the Middle East and that’s World War Three in anyone’s book — but this time, all the major powers would go into the conflict possessing weapons that could kill billions.

“The US and Israel launched these strikes to prevent nuclear proliferation. It would be the most terrible irony in history if that very action was the trigger for a nuclear war that destroyed civilization as we know it.”

Featured Image. Credit: Omar Marques/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images