World War III will break out if U.S. President Donald Trump "continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes," the deputy chairman of Russia's powerful Security Council said Monday.
Speaking in an interview with the Russian state news agency Tass, Dmitry Medvedev described Washington's actions as "a war by the U.S. and its allies to preserve global dominance."
"If Trump continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes, it will undoubtedly begin. And any event could be the trigger. Any event," he warned.
According to Medvedev's assessment, the vulnerability of U.S. and Israeli officials "has significantly increased" since Iran declared a holy war.
"The fact that the Iranians haven't responded too seriously yet means they don't have many opportunities. But they know how to wait; they are an ancient civilization," he said.
Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012, stressed that "Trump made a grave mistake."
"With his decision, he put all Americans under potential threat, even despite the fact that the Iranian regime is not liked in neighboring Arab countries.”
“More importantly, the late Ayatollah (Ali Khamenei) was the spiritual father of nearly 300 million Shiites. And now he is also a martyr. You can imagine the rest. And now there is no doubt that Iran will pursue the creation of nuclear weapons with redoubled energy," he said.
Asked whether Iran has the strength to withstand this confrontation, Medvedev replied: "They will cope, but the price of revival will be high. It requires a high level of societal consolidation. And the Americans have provided such consolidation.”
He described the reaction of European countries to the actions of the U.S. and Israel as "toadyism and vileness."
"European vassals, with lust and delight, wipe their faces after receiving a dose of American-Israeli 'yellow dew' directly in their eyes," he said.
Asked whether the International Olympic Committee (IOC) might bar U.S. and Israeli athletes from competition as it did Russians several years ago, Medvedev said the IOC and the Olympic movement should be dissolved and rebuilt, remembering the precepts of French historian Pierre de Coubertin, who co-founded the International Olympic Committee and served as its second president.
Turning to the Russia-Ukraine talks, Medvedev acknowledged that there is a danger that Moscow is now being "coaxed" into negotiations with Kyiv to give Ukraine time for reinforcement.
Asked whether there are any guarantees that one day someone in Western capitals won't decide to solve the problem with a defiant Moscow, he said: "There are and can be no magic remedies against the actions of arrant idiots and clinical bastards."
"There is one guarantee: the U.S. is afraid of Russia and knows the price of a nuclear conflict. If one were to occur, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be child's play in a sandbox," he added.
