It is openly admitted that the current Right-wing Israeli government is the key driver of the Trump administration’s intention to destroy the economy of the sovereign state of Iran – one of the world’s oldest civilisations – by a strategy of compulsory implementation of global US trade sanctions which include a total embargo on Iranian oil to any NATO country or any other nation currently trading with the United States.

Since May 2018, the Trump administration has withdrawn from the JCPOA major powers agreement that curbed Iran’s nuclear program, re-imposed punishing sanctions on Tehran, demanded that allies choose between Iranian oil and trading with the American market, and declared the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to be a terrorist organization.

President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement and re-impose sanctions jeopardizes the landmark arms control agreement, under which Iran dismantled much of its nuclear program and international inspectors gained extensive access to monitor its compliance. The agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was a vital peace initiative for the Gulf region and the Middle East, is now dead.

Of course, the state of Israel’s huge nuclear weapons arsenals are not subject to any UN inspection or compliance with international agreements. It is the world’s only undeclared nuclear state and possesses stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction estimated to include up to 400 nuclear and/or chemical warheads.

It was reported that at a meeting of President Trump’s top national security aides last week, the administration published an updated military plan that envisions sending as many as 120,000 American troops to the Middle East should Iran accelerate work on nuclear weapons as a consequence of US attempts to destroy its economy. It is unclear whether any Israeli troops would be involved initially but cruise missiles would be deployed from its German- supplied nuclear-armed submarine fleet and missiles from its US-built F-35i bomber squadrons.

US Secretary of State Pompeo’s efforts to recruit European countries to back the administration’s aggressive posture on Iran are being received with disdain bordering on contempt and Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, called for “maximum restraint” after meeting in Brussels with Mr. Pompeo, who is a proponent of provoking maximum pressure against Iran.

If this continues to its logical conclusion it means that there will inevitably be an attack initially by Israeli cruise missiles with nuclear warheads against Iranian targets in an attempt to demolish Iranian deep defence installations and by the US 5th Fleet in Bahrain to keep open the strategic waterway through the Strait of Hormuz.

Such a nuclear attack would signal the start of WW3 as other nuclear states such as India and Pakistan, France and Britain, China and Russia, take up opposing positions. As for the UK, as a supporter of the Netanyahu regime it will continue its bilateral trade with Israel from the safety of its distance. However, the Middle East as a whole including Israel will also suffer the catastrophic effect of ionising radiation upon food and water supplies and upon the human population. Casualties could run into hundreds of thousands on both sides as the conflict escalates and extends into Europe.

Now is the time for the EU to act urgently and decisively to divorce itself from the US-Israeli warmongering that is becoming such a dangerous threat to global peace, and the United Nations Security Council must intervene without delay to avoid a catastrophic nuclear war.

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Hans Stehling (pen name) is an analyst based in the UK. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from NDTV