Mideast tensions escalate as US attacks Iran's?nuclear sites

Experts said the US attacks could trigger more uncertainty in the region and undermine global peace.

Jack Midgley, an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies in Washington, DC, said the US strikes will trigger more uncertainty in the region.

"Trump's speech after the US strikes on Iran set a triumphal and menacing tone that is both premature and unwise. The political and security-related consequences of these imprudent strikes will emerge over months and cannot easily be foreseen," he said.

Countries in the Middle East will now have to reevaluate their relationships with the US, he said. Far from creating regional stability, Trump's attacks on Iran are likely to foment global instability and risk, Midgley added.

Ding Jun, director of the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University, said the US airstrikes alone are unlikely to compel Iran to back down.

"Iran is now targeting Israel, with the potential for direct attacks on US bases and other assets in this region. If that happens, the risk of the conflict escalating and spreading across the region would significantly rise," he said.

Ding said that Trump's approach to Iran risks dragging the US into another protracted conflict, an outcome that should serve as a rational and sobering warning, as some US lawmakers have already condemned his action as "unconstitutional".

Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at Lanzhou University in Gansu province, criticized the US for repeatedly resorting to military force to address regional issues.

"From Afghanistan and Iraq to Syria and Iran, the US has attempted to use military power to push for regime change and advance its own interests. But these interventions have brought suffering to local populations and undermined global peace," Zhu said.

Ding, from the Shanghai university institute, said that as tensions in the Middle East threaten to spiral further, the UN Security Council and the broader international community must urgently act to foster negotiations, end the violence and avert a wider regional crisis.