Tepid Era

Israeli sensors pick up radioactivity in east jerusalem. It turns out to be a nuke that failed to go off, set there by Hesbolah. A summit is held between Israel, Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, the middle eastern powers with nuclear weapons, with Syria gaining them from Saddam's generous donations of unfinished WMD projects before the Iraq War, and the Saudis and Egyptians gaining them with Pakistan/Russian help in order to deter Iran, who built weapons two years after the withdrawal from Iraq. At this summit, disarmament talks are begun amongst hated enemies, Shia, Sunni, and Israeli all in the same room together, during one of the most geopolitically  heated periods in the region's history.

Disarmament talks fail dramatically, so the US sends several carriers and nuclear submarines of their own to difuse the situation and sends in some spec-ops teams to sabotage the nuclear delivery systems. as well, an airborne laser platform circles the desert, accompanied by an AWACS to detect fired weapons and have the ABL take them down.the US efforts almost succeed, except for when the PRC starts butting in,  trying to increase its standing in this most pivotal of situations. it decides to back iran, as it has in the past.

China begins funding terrorism throughout the region, pushing for independent Maoist-nations under its own belt. Iraq, already far into a state of decay, was a perfect region for china to start.