Iran ‘was THREE DAYS from getting a nuke from North Korea’ before Trump launched Epic Fury blitz to crush madcap regime

IRAN was just three days away from getting a North Korean nuke before the US blitzed the madcap regime, according to Trump’s former national security advisor.

American attorney John Bolton, who advised the US president during his first term, told The Sun’s Harry Cole that Operation Epic Fury did “very significant damage” to Iran‘s nuclear programme.

Tehran’s nuclear programme suffered ‘very significant damage’ in the first wave of attacksCredit: AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump has been weighing up a special forces mission to secure Iran’s enriched uraniumCredit: EPA

Kim Jong-un was days from shipping nukes to aid Iran’s war effortCredit: via REUTERS

But the bombing campaign didn’t obliterate it, and the rogue state reportedly began efforts to revamp it immediately.

Bolton says that a simple wire transfer to the Central Bank of North Korea would secure the nuclear capabilities Tehran so desperately covets.

Once payment is made, the hermit kingdom could “put a nuclear device on an aeroplane, route it through Russia” and get it to Iran within 72 hours.

“And the ties between North Korea and Iran, both on ballistic missiles and the nuclear side, are quite real,” Bolton adds.

“That’s what the proliferation threat is all about.

“Let’s face it, in the China-Russia axis that’s forming right now, Iran and North Korea are two outriders, and so the cooperation between them is very threatening.”

Bolton says the risk of Iran’s mad mullahs getting their hands on one of Kim Jong-un‘s nukes is reason enough to force through a regime change.

“I just think it’s a convincing argument [for] why you need a normal regime in Iran.

“It could be a military government. It could be a democracy.

“At least it’s not run by a bunch of theocratic extremists and militarists that want nuclear weapons – that is the big change.”

The reeling regime has found itself on thin ice already, with US Secretary of War promising the “most intense” wave of strikes yet, after Iran warned Trump to “be careful not to be eliminated”

Tehran could be days away from running out of missile launchers, according to experts.

Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at RUSI, revealed that Iranian losses are mounting quickly, just ten days into Operation Epic Fury.

“What you now have is a campaign that is doing a combination of hunting for the remaining ballistic missiles and critically, their launchers as that is a bottleneck,” he said during a briefing on Monday.

“If the Israeli figures are to be believed then [Iran] only has an estimated 150 launchers left.”

Israel and the US have continued to unleash strikes on TehranCredit: Anadolu via Getty Images

North Korea showed off its nuclear-capable missile launchers last monthCredit: AP

Savill added that at the current rate of attrition, Iran will not be able to launch ballistic missiles from mobile launchers by the end of this week.

That removes a “significant proportion” of Iranian strike power, he warned.

It comes days after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Admiral Brad Cooper revealed that ballistic missile attacks from Iran have declined by roughly 90 per cent since the strikes began.

However fears remain that Iran is yet to use its “wild card” in the war.

Dr Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East Security, believes that as Israel continues to bombard one Iranian proxy – Hezbollah, in Lebanon – another is waiting in the wings.

“The Houthis in Yemen remain the wild card still.

“They are capable of widening the war, but have not yet fully committed to doing so beyond solidarity demonstrations and rallies and a high level of escalatory rhetoric.”

And North Korea appear worryingly sympathetic to Iran amid news of a potential nuclear transfer.

Pyongyang blasted the US-Israeli strikes in a statement released the day after the conflict began.

A foreign ministry spokesperson branded the military attack as an “illegal act of aggression” and the “most despicable form of violation of sovereignty”.

US fighter jets have continued to pummel the reeling regime

The hermit kingdom went on to say the “violation of international law and abuse of military power” was predictable, and added that the US had shown their “destructive role [in] global peace and stability”.

And Kim has been keen to show off the country’s nuclear capabilities of late.

The dictator was snapped grinning maniacally ahead of the once-in-five-years puppet Workers’ Party congress last month, as he unveiled a fleet of nuclear-capable rocket launchers.

Footage released by state TV showed terrifying nuke launchers rolling through central Pyongyang.

North Korean media habitually puts on glitzy displays of the dictator to bolster his reputation domestically and to warn perceived opponents to toe the line.