US-Iran tensions ‘could spark accidental war’

TENSIONS between the United States and Iran have risen to the point where a war could be kicked off by mistake, an outcome that neither Tehran nor Washington wants, US military officials and analysts say.

A US military official in Qatar likened the US-Iran stand-off to the hostility in Europe before the World War I, when a duke’s assassination triggered a war that engulfed a continent.

“A mistake could be made and you could end up in something that neither side ever really wanted, and suddenly it is August 1914 all over again,” the US officer said on condition of anonymity. “I really believe neither side wants a fight.”