Former MI6 Chief Hits Out At Trump's 'Unnecessary War' With Iran

A former head of MI6 has hit out at Donald Trump’s “unnecessary war” with Iran.

Sir John Sawers, said the conflict was “not required” and could lead to the country becoming a “failed state” and even bigger danger to the world.

The US and Israel began their bombing campaign against the Tehran regime last Saturday, but since then the apparent rationale for the military action has changed on a number of occasions.

Speaking to CNN, Sawers – who was chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service from 2009 until 2014 – warned of the chilling consequences which could transpire as a result.

He said: “This is an unnecessary war. It was not required because it was not as if it was to pre-empt an imminent threat against the United States or indeed against Israel.

“The rationale, to the extent that there is one, is that it secures Israel for decades to come ... but this will come at a cost.

“The very best outcome you can expect from the current conflict is that a successor leadership comes in and behaves differently from its predecessors. That is what some in America are calling the Venezuela option.

“I think just as dangerous is the possibility that the regime might corrode or collapse and lose control of parts of the country, and then you could have a situation like the one we’ve faced in Syria for the last year or so, where the country fragments into several different parts.”

Sawers also said it was “unwise” for Trump to call on the Iranian people to rise up against the country’s ruling regime.

He added: “If the country dissolves into component parts, it will be basically a failed state, and we’ve known from the last 40 years what happens in failed states – it becomes a centre for terrorism, for smuggling, for gun running, for drugs, for criminality of all sorts.

“If you just dismantle the regime completely, you could end up with the sort of chaos we’ve had to deal with in Afghanistan, or indeed in Lebanon, Libya and Syria.”