Brink of World War 3?

By Michael Snyder

The moment that I heard that a U.S. Navy high altitude drone had been blown out of the sky by Iran, I realized that a very important threshold had just been crossed. 

We now find ourselves on the brink of World War 3, and one wrong move could unleash death and destruction on a scale that most of us don’t even want to think about.  We have reached one of the most critical junctures in modern American history, and the key decisions will be made by just one man.

When Donald Trump initially ran for president, he promised to stop the endless wars in the Middle East, but now we are potentially facing the biggest one of them all.  More than 80 million people live in Iran, they have a highly sophisticated military, and they have been preparing for a military confrontation with the west for a very long time.

When the media asked President Trump about a possible military response to the drone being shot down, Trump responded by telling the assembled reporters “you’ll soon find out”.  The following comes from a USA Today article entitled “A US attack could be imminent after Iranians shoot down drone over international waters.”

Hours after Iran announced that it shot down a U.S. drone, President Trump told journalists at the White House, “You’ll soon find out” if the U.S. is planning a strike on Iran in retaliation.

“They’re going to find out they made a very big mistake,” Trump added, in comments that came as he met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Those words have led many to speculate that military action against Iran could come very quickly.

In addition, it is being reported that military officials gathered at the White House on Thursday to discuss various military options.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan huddled Thursday with national security officials at the White House to discuss military options, including an attack on the site that launched the missile that destroyed the unmanned surveillance aircraft, according to a Defense official familiar with the discussions but not authorized to speak about them publicly.

White House Briefing

And another sign that things have taken a very serious turn is the fact that top congressional leaders were summoned to the White House Situation Room for a briefing on Thursday afternoon.

The White House is inviting congressional leaders to a Situation Room briefing on Iran on Thursday afternoon, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are expected to attend that meeting, as are the Armed Service Committee and Intelligence Committee chairmen and ranking members, though Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, will be unable to appear. Rank-and-file members received their own briefing earlier on Thursday.

These sorts of briefings for top congressional leaders don’t happen very often, and I would love to know what they were told.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton have been pushing for a military confrontation with Iran for a very long time, and now they may get their wish.

So, let’s talk about what that could look like.

A Limited Strike?

President Trump could ultimately opt for a very “limited” strike against the missile site that shot down the drone.  At that point, the Iranians would have a decision to make.  In response, the Iranians could decide to sink the ships that launched the attack on their missile site.  Most Americans don’t realize this, but the truth is that our ships that are sitting in the Persian Gulf right now are sitting ducks.  Sunburn missiles are perhaps the most lethal anti-ship missiles on the entire planet, and the Iranians have stockpiled a large quantity of them over the years.  If the order is given, we will see destroyed U.S. warships sinking in the Persian Gulf on national television.

So how loud will the cries for war become if that happens?

The U.S. would hit back extremely hard, and that would almost certainly include strikes against Iran’s nuclear program.  Even before our drone was shot down, U.S. officials were reportedly considering a plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.  The following comes from the Jerusalem Post.

According to the officials, since Friday, the White House has been holding incessant discussions involving senior military commanders, Pentagon representatives and advisers to President Donald Trump.

The military action under consideration would be an aerial bombardment of an Iranian facility linked to its nuclear program, the officials further claimed.

“The bombing will be massive but will be limited to a specific target,” said a Western diplomat.

Of course, that would absolutely infuriate the Iranians, and they could respond by launching thousands of missiles at Israel and other strategic targets in the region.

Israel would respond by launching thousands of missiles back, and U.S. news channels would be full of talk about the need to invade Iran.

Does Iran Have Nuclear Weapons?

Once Iranian leadership saw that an invasion was imminent, they would use everything at their disposal in a desperate attempt to ensure their survival.  I know that I discussed this in a previous article, but it bears repeating.  There are many that are absolutely convinced that Iran currently has nukes and would not be afraid to use them if necessary.  Back in 2016, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey co-authored an article along with 4 other former U.S. officials in which they unequivocally stated that they believe that “Iran probably already has nuclear weapons.”

We assess, from U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency reports and other sources, that Iran probably already has nuclear weapons. Over 13 years ago, prior to 2003, Iran was manufacturing nuclear-weapon components, like bridge-wire detonators and neutron initiators, performing non-fissile explosive experiments of an implosion nuclear device, and working on the design of a nuclear warhead for the Shahab-III missile.

Thirteen years ago Iran was already a threshold nuclear-missile state. It is implausible that Iran suspended its program for over a decade for a nuclear deal with President Obama.

Iran probably has nuclear warheads for the Shahab-III medium-range missile, which they tested for making EMP attacks. Two recent tests violate UN agreements, demonstrating that Iran is brazenly developing its nuclear-capable missiles. Iran already has the largest medium-range ballistic-missile force in the Middle East.

So, when we are talking about a war with Iran, we are talking about the possibility of a nuclear war.

The stakes are exceedingly high, and one wrong decision by President Trump could set off a sequence of events which would lead to a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East in which millions could die.

We do not want a war with Iran.  It would not go well for America at all.  We are already living in apocalyptic times, and a war with Iran would greatly accelerate things.

President Trump can be a hero by stopping this war from happening.

But if he takes the advice of the war hawks that he has surrounded himself with, we could be about to enter a nightmare from which we will never escape.

Michael Snyder, founder of The Economic Collapse Blog, is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End of The American Dream and The Most Important News.  From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites.  If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so.  The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time. Learn more at http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com.