Who hates who in the world: As military experts warn World War III has never been closer, the definitive interactive guide to who’s on Iran’s side, who is backing the U.S… and who’s staying out of it

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On every continent, governments are being forced to take sides: either on the side of the Americans and Israel, or on the side of Iran and its fellow autocracies.

The consequences for global trade, let alone global security, are huge. The world economy is much more complex than it was during World War II.

As the pandemic has revealed, many countries, including the UK, are implementing a ‘just-in-time’ policy of importing energy and food as needed. When a crisis disrupts the supply chain, the impact is felt in empty shelves and rising prices.

Donald Trump will be under pressure from many in the United States and elsewhere to declare victory and end the attacks. But Iran, whose brutal Revolutionary Guard has shown no signs of being ready to give up power, may not agree to a ceasefire.

They have already shown themselves capable of raining hell down on the civilian populations of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and other Gulf states, and they may be planning terrorist atrocities in the West. Tremors look set to shake the planet as the war enters its second week.

USA

ANTI-IRAN: America’s technology, especially in its partnership with Israel, is second to none. Its missiles are accurate and their power to create destruction is immense.

But Iran’s drones cost as little as £3,750 each and can be produced in the hundreds per day; and a single interceptor rocket to shoot down one can cost £15 million.

Trump claimed this week that US stocks are unlimited. This is wrong. Iran’s drone supply could increase faster than America’s defenses, which could be crucial to the outcome of the war. More importantly, US politicians, including many Republicans, are not fully behind Trump. Isolationist Vice President J.D. Vance, for one, remained very quiet.

Voter reaction is also mixed, and U.S. losses are likely to increase. In the week since the US launched the offensive on February 28, six American soldiers have been killed in Iran and almost $2 billion worth of military equipment has been lost.

Brazil and Mexico

IRAN PROFILE: Brazil, South America’s most populous country, is an economic powerhouse.

He has good relations with Iran and is suspicious of US influence, especially given Trump’s vocal support for jailed far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Many Mexicans, meanwhile, have long sympathized with the Palestinians and view Israel in the same light as the United States, as a colonial oppressor. Although officially neutral, the country will privately support Iran.

Argentina

ANTI-IRAN: South America, Donald Trump’s backyard, is not a neutral observer of a war thousands of miles away.

Argentina has been fiercely anti-Iran since at least 1994, when a Tehran-sponsored suicide bomb killed 85 people at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. This is a persecution orchestrated by the regime as revenge for Argentina’s decision to stop sharing nuclear secrets.

Even though its economy depends on cheap energy, especially in the agricultural sector, Argentine President Javier Milei is vociferously pro-Trump and pro-Israel.

Azerbaijan

ANTI-IRAN: Only 60 percent of Iranians (about 55 million people) are ethnic Persians. The other 25 million people are Azeris, who constitute the majority in Azerbaijan. If the regime in Tehran collapses and civil war breaks out, the tribal conflict between Azeris and Persians could quickly spread across the border. A war between Iran and Azerbaijan could disrupt a key pipeline carrying oil from the Turkish coast (one of BP’s main beneficiaries) to the Mediterranean.

Azeri airspace is a vital corridor from East to West, as European airlines cannot fly via Russia or Iran. If a passenger plane is shot down here, the route will be closed.

England, France and Germany

ANTI-IRAN: Three major European countries issued a joint statement deploring Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries and making a qualified offer to assist US-Israeli efforts. However, Britain in particular could not offer support quickly enough to appease Trump, who called Prime Minister Keir Starmer a “loser” and “un-Churchill”. Germany claimed to have been warned before the attacks (as did Poland, a staunch US ally with a powerful military), but Britain and France were not.

Spain

NEUTRAL…BUT: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is hardly a defender of the Ayatollahs, but he initially called the attacks an “unjust, dangerous military intervention” that violated international law and refused to allow America to use joint Spanish military bases. Furious, Trump then threatened to suspend all trade.

On Thursday, a Spanish Patriot anti-aircraft missile battery helped shoot down an Iranian missile. But Spain’s hostility towards Israel – an ancient hostility made worse by modern politics – is unlikely to change.

Ireland

NATURAL: Sinn Fein condemned the US-Israeli action as ‘an act of aggression that threatens to set the entire Middle East on fire’. But the government stopped short of condemning the strikes, with Taoiseach Micheal Martin, who will meet Trump later this month, saying: “We believe in immediate de-escalation.”

Despite the friendship between the two countries, the Irish public appears to have taken a firm stance against President Trump.

The US and Israel struck Iran on Sunday, leaving clouds of smoke visible from Doha, Qatar

Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece and Portugal

NATURAL: Even though they are members of NATO, many European countries prefer to stay outside by carefully expressing their reactions to the attacks.

Estonia suggested ‘pressure through sanctions’, Greece and Belgium stressed concerns for the safety of their citizens, Portugal deplored Iran’s ‘unacceptable’ human rights violations and Bulgaria worried about ‘dangerous military tensions’. But as the war drags on, they will have to choose a side.

Russia

IRAN PROFILE: The biggest winner of the conflict so far has been Vladimir Putin. Rising global energy prices due to Iran’s inability to export most of its oil are once again increasing Russia’s war chest against the quagmire in Ukraine.

Iran has long been a ‘strategic partner’ of the Kremlin and provides the Russian army with large numbers of Shahed suicide planes. Russia also produces thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles and sells them back to Iran, and provides the mullahs with aircraft, missiles and anti-aircraft systems, as well as satellite intelligence. Russia is also opening its banks to Iran to avoid American and EU sanctions.

Chinese

IRAN PROFILE: This is the most dangerous flash point. China needs Iranian oil for its military vehicles and warplanes and purchases this oil despite international sanctions. Beijing’s warships are heading to the Persian Gulf to escort Iranian tankers.

If, by accident or in self-defense, a US missile hits a Chinese ship or China fires on a US aircraft, the world could be plunged into an all-out war between East and West.

Even without this dire scenario, Beijing is helping Iran. Its satellites monitor missiles launched from Israeli bases and US aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean and relay this important intelligence to Tehran. China is also believed to be smuggling aid and ammunition such as ammunition, drones and perhaps missiles to aid the mullahs.

The oil tanker Skylight was hit in Oman’s Musandam peninsula on Sunday.

Sweetcorn

NATURAL: In 1979, Egypt infuriated Iran by making a peace agreement with Israel and offering sanctuary to the ousted Shah.

Egypt has long been financially supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who believe its large army would be useful in a future conflict. However, if Iran’s proxies in Yemen, the Houthis, successfully blockade the Red Sea, energy revenues will collapse and Arab support will collapse with them. Egypt may find that its neutrality cannot continue and may have to take a stand against Iran.

India

NEUTRAL…FOR NOW: India is successfully walking the tightrope. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed trade and defense agreements with Israel. But India is also a major importer of oil from the Gulf region and purchases natural gas for fertilizer production. (Delhi also maintains strong ties with Moscow and has refused to condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.) Whatever its stance, India has much to lose if the war drags on.

South Africa

IRAN PROFILE: South Africa has been an enemy of Israel since the time of Nelson Mandela, and even accused Israel of “genocide” to the International Court of Justice in The Hague due to its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The current government, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, also recalls Iran’s support during apartheid, when Tehran refused to supply oil to the white supremacist government.

Australia

ANTI-IRAN: While Britain remained ambivalent under Keir Starmer, Australia openly supported US/Israeli action, although it did not send any forces. Public opinion broadly supports America, especially following the Bondi Beach massacre by Islamist extremists last December.

But Australia gets about 30 percent of its energy imports from the Gulf and exports a lot of sheepmeat there; Therefore, the economic impact of the war will be significant, with trade from the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq being blocked or sharply reduced.

Japan and South Korea

ANTI-IRAN: Japan and South Korea are firm allies of the United States. But these major industrial economies, as well as Singapore and Taiwan, are energy-hungry importers of oil and gas from Gulf states, including Iran. If auto and consumer goods manufacturers cannot get energy, production will stop. If the road to the Suez Canal becomes too dangerous, delivering goods to European markets will also become much more expensive.

South Korea has one of the largest armed forces in the world, with 3.5 million personnel if needed.

• Mark Almond is director of the Oxford Crisis Research Institute