A defiant Iran warned the U.N. Security Council that imposing sanctions on the Islamist regime “will have its own consequences” just days after the Iranian navy kidnapped 15 British soldiers, including one woman. The English want their sailors back, but are not willing, at this point, to get them back forcefully if necessary. Iran seems hell bent on provoking a military conflict with Western powers, and while better minds then mine have written plausible (or indeed likely) rationales for the provocative actions of Iran, taken in the larger context I believe this is the opening salvo of the next World War.

Let me explain.

Iran has backed England, and by extension her ally America, into a corner. If England allows Iran to escape unpunished, holding onto the British hostages indefinitely while at the same time ignoring the U.N. sanctions, then British power on the world stage, what little it has left, will be over. The jihad will begin in earnest against all British interests, foreign and domestic, as Islamic hardliners of all persuasions along with their leftist allies realize that the English people lack the will to defend themselves. Americans are already questioning the rules of engagement that led to the English soldiers capture, rules that emphasize de-escalation rather then self-preservation. Sunni or Shia, British inaction will be interpreted the same way; as a sign of weakness.

But an attack on Iran presents its own problems. Iran has a massive military which can decimate Western economies by turning trade routes into war zones. The Revolutionary Guard paramilitary can field 125,000 regular troops and over a million volunteers during a time of war. Those forces are separate from the regular military which rivals England’s in many ways. Iran is also a state sponsor of terror which has the allegiance of many terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, which will no doubt activate on a scale we’ve never before seen should a Western power attack Iranian interests.

Hezbollah has a strong contingent in Latin America where communist dictator Hugo Chavez has openly allied with Iran and promised to “stay by Iran at any time and under any condition.” Should war break out, even if we’re not directly involved, strikes against American interests would seem to be almost inevitable as Communist Latin America seizes the opportunity to solidify its power and destroy the U.S. allies in that region by unleashing Iranian loyalists. The militaries of these southern states also should not be underestimated, and if Chavez honors his pledge to stand by Iran, even as Iran provokes our allies into war, then another front will open up, this one just a missile launch away from our southern border.

Within the United States there are hardcore groups of Marxists, Radical Muslims and even White Supremacists who are only too eager to side with Iran in a conflict against the West. War will come to our streets not in the form of long range bombers and cruise missiles but as rioting masses of “revolutionaries” using fist and flame to dismantle America from the inside while our armies fight to defend our allies and our shores from foreign aggression. In England there is much the same situation.

So no matter how this incident plays out, we’ve lost this battle. America, England and all the forces for freedom in the world fiddled while the Wahabbist death cult and their Marxist allies burned the foundations of our civilization. What could have once been a “war on terror” will now become a World War, nation vs. nation, people vs. people, fought around the world. Some are already warning of more Iranian attacks but how many more will need to occur before our ally is forced to respond? One, two? It makes no difference, the response will come, either in the form of complete capitulation or escalation of force. And either way the response will only lead to war.

As Robert Spencer says, it is Autumn for Britain and the U.S.