Two former Balkan leaders criticised the US-Israeli war against Iran as intensifying a global crisis after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In the shadow of the Iran war, the Global Baku Forum in Azerbaijan wrapped up on Saturday with a panel on how to reset the international system, and with stark predictions on the consequences if there is no diplomatic solution to the conflict, with some leaders warning that history will repeat itself without a systemic overhaul.
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Two former leaders from what used to be the Balkan Tinderbox criticised the US-Israeli war against Iran, saying it deepened a global crisis after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“The Iran war is triggering a new crisis after Ukraine, involving a second big power in the war,” Boris Tadić, former Serbian President, told Euronews.
“Right now they can criticise each other, Russia and the United States, because of the dismantling of international law, but it can cause big problems and a crisis in all regional countries. Even Azerbaijan can be affected".
A democratic opposition leader under the Milosević regime, Boris Tadić also criticised the US-led bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo war in 1999 without a UN resolution, as well as other actions today.
“When big powers try to conquer parts of other sovereign countries or intervene, such as by capturing presidents of other countries or killing presidents of other countries as a member state of the United Nations. This is a disaster situation".
So what's the solution? Tadić says no way out without a UN-led reset.
“The White House and [US President] Donald Trump, they are failing, underestimating Iran,” Tadić said. “They cannot finish the conflict within a few weeks. This is not possible and this is not a likely solution of the current conflict," pointing to the fact that mediators are needed.
According to Tadić, we find ourselves at the "wild side of the history, and we have to come back to the international law, and this is the only solution we can have,” he said. “We have to enhance authority of United Nations, multilateral institutions".
Then there's the former Croatian president, Ivo Josipović, who led his country to EU membership in 2013. He fears for a downward global spiral if a diplomatic solution isn't reached.
“Things like oil, as energy, like food, there are many, many people who are escaping, who are trying to escape from the war, it causes another problem. And it's a very, very huge humanitarian problem as well,” said Josipović.
That's why Josipović even fears a third world war.
“This type of wars tends to generate new wars, especially when superpowers are interested in development like Russia, like China and the others,” said Josipović. “So I'm really afraid that the possible scenario is also the world war.”