Four senior US military officials have warned that the six-month-long standoff between the United States and Iran could escalate into a nuclear war, especially given the presence of US President Donald Trump and his country’s possession of new nuclear weapons.

And writer William Arkin in a lengthy analytical article published in the American magazine Newsweek, that the United States conducts a nuclear military exercise every year in late October, simulating a scenario of a nuclear strike against Iran.

Arkin - who has written several books on nuclear weapons - explains that the scenario in question is based on the hypothesis of sinking a US aircraft carrier, and the use of chemical weapons against US Marines, which will prompt the commander of these forces in the Middle East to request a nuclear strike against Iran.

After this request, two American B-2 bombers, known as ghosts, flew with one nuclear bomb, at a time when the US President is considering the decision to strike Iran with nuclear weapons.

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Maneuvers and scenario
US Strategic Command chief Admiral Cecil de Hani says the annual maneuvers related to simulating a nuclear strike against Iran are "a test of our forces through a range of difficult scenarios, and it demonstrates the safety, security, effectiveness, and preparedness of strategic deterrence."

Newsweek magazine says that America has a new nuclear weapon called "W 76-2", and adds that the presence of this weapon increases the risk of possible use by Trump against Iran, despite the lack of an explicit announcement about this.

US military sources directly involved in planning for the nuclear war say there has been no formal change in war plans regarding Iran under the Trump administration, but publishing what they say is a "more usable" weapon changes the accounts of the nuclear war scenario.

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New heads
Returning to the warning issued by the four military officials, writer Arkin says that each of them indicates that the deployment of new nuclear warheads for the "Trident 2" missile is explicitly aimed at making the threat to strike Iran with nuclear weapons more credible.

The four officials argue that America's new nuclear capability should push Tehran to wait and meditate before considering any major attack on the United States or its forces.

But four of them add that one factor influencing the decision to strike a nuclear strike is the character of Donald Trump.

William Arkin notes that the United States has new small nuclear weapons that can be carried by ballistic missiles without the need for bombers.

Thunderbolt and frustration
The author adds that while the ballistic missile in the "Global Thunder" maneuvers takes 11 hours to travel the distance from a military base in Missouri, Central America to Iran or North Korea, other missiles may take 30 minutes or even 10 to 15 minutes if they are launched from American submarines.

"Since the current nuclear war plans have been written, it is also possible to justify the use of such weapons that are similar to what was used against the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II, causing sudden thunderbolt, to thwart a broader war that is wider and more theoretically destructive." ".

According to Arkin, the United States did not have this nuclear capability a year ago, and these weapons were specifically designed to be used as a deterrent, expressing hope they would not be used at all.