Fireballs could reach temperatures of up to 100 million degrees Celsius whilst a nuclear winter would envelop every corner of the globe, state scientists in the Nature journal. They assert that both Australia and New Zealand would survive.

Armageddon expert Annie Jacobson, author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, utilised scientific papers and defence experts to predict what would transpire should the world’s 12,000 nuclear weapons be launched. On The Diary of a CEO podcast, she stated: “Hundreds of millions of people die in the fireballs, no question.”

Annie elucidated that it would also wreak havoc for areas that survived the initial blasts. She explained: “Places like Iowa and Ukraine would be just snow for 10 years, and so agriculture would fail. When agriculture fails, people just die.”

The expert suggests that approximately three billion individuals could survive the initial explosions, but their lives would be drastically altered. She posits that Australia and New Zealand would largely endure the nuclear winter and continue to cultivate crops.

Annie elaborated that detonating thousands of contemporary nuclear warheads would obliterate a thin layer of gas that shields us from the sun. She asserts that in addition to damage to the ozone layer, there would be a risk of radiation poisoning.

And whilst Australia and New Zealand might endure, she anticipates the inhabitants there would have to exist in darkness. She predicts people would be “fighting for food” and “living underground”.

Annie’s forecast follows a series of maps predicting Iranian missiles could obliterate several countries, including some popular holiday destinations. Reports suggest that the warheads could have a range of up to 1,240 miles.

That implies popular holiday locations such as Dubai, Cyprus, Turkey and Egypt could be within range. On Thursday (March 5) the UK government’s first flights departed the Middle East to assist in rescuing Brits.

The inaugural flight left Oman on Thursday afternoon. The government is persistently evaluating how it will react to the situation in the Middle East.

It has already been confirmed that the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon will be dispatched to the Mediterranean, possibly next week, to reinforce defences around a British military base at Akrotiri after it was struck by an Iranian drone.