A top defence and security expert explained the level of risk posed by Iranian missiles to the UK and Europe after NATO air defences were scrambled over Turkey

Military experts have issued their verdict over fears that Iran's bombardment of the Middle East could reach into Europe - and even see missiles hit the UK.

NATO air defences were used to shoot down Iranian missiles over Turkey's southern city of Gaziantep yesterday as the country's new leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, continued strikes across the region, declaring his country would "never surrender" and that "war will be met with war".

Iran's frantic response to the US-Israeli strikes has seen countries across the Middle East come under fire over the past week, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Qatar and Oman among the nations to have been hit by missiles and drones.

The ongoing conflict has sparked new focus on the type of missile tech available to the regime in Iran - and whether there is there is the risk of the new ayatollah going nuclear.

On March 7, Donald Trump claimed that Iran was just "eight months" away from having a nuclear weapon and "would have used it" - but Professor Anthony Glees, a security and intelligence expert at the University of Buckingham, said there’s no evidence to back this up.

He explained: "I think it is accepted by the technical boffins that there is no threat to the USA or Northern Europe from any Iranian missiles which we know about. "

"Equally the suggestion made by the hopelessly imprecise twit in the White House, that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in two to four weeks is eyewash.

"Even in his own confused mind this nonsense should have occurred to him: he told the world that last June's 'Operation Midnight Hammer' had 'obliterated' Iran's ability to make nukes and although we didn't believe this was the full truth, we don't believe they've actually made any bombs with it & even if they had, they're not able to deliver them, no ICBMs, no satellites and, as of now after a week's war, no planes either.

"We are confident that the CIA and MI6 would know if there was a real threat from any immediate nuclear armed ICBM or bombs. Our military intelligence people are very good and we have dissident Iranian scientists in the west telling us what we need to know.

Instead, he said Iran's war strategy is now economic - "sowing and reaping the seeds of economic chaos" in the West by "using oil as the weapon of choice". Oil prices continue to rapidly fluctuate after hitting $120 a barrel yesterday, with economists warning that the knock-on impacts of a global fuel crisis could see inflation back to 5% in the UK this year.

Meanwhile, in a recent video on his YouTube channel, historian Mark Felton explained that only Iran's SLV space rockets like the Simorgh and Safir would be technically capable of reaching London - and would require very extensive modification to turn them into intercontinental missiles.

He explained: "Iran's current ballistic missiles are designed to be accurate weapons. An SLV is not.

"An SLV in its current configuration couldn't make a precision strike, for example, on London."Therefore, the missile would have to be completely redesigned into a true ICBM. It is doubtful that Iran has done anything in this regard. So, we can probably say that yes, Iran has at least one missile that has the legs to reach the UK, but not the systems to deliver a warhead successfully."