Rear Admiral Chris Parry has warned that "almost anything" could trigger the next World War.
This comes as former US President Donald Trump said Joe Biden had left the globe on the “brink of World War Three” after a drone attack on a base in Jordan killed three US troops.
Three US soldiers and dozens of others were injured during the attack launched by Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.
Speaking to GB News, Rear Admiral Chris Parry explained: "This is a significant escalation because Jordan up until now has been a safe area for Western troops as there are about three thousand U.S. troops based in Jordan.
"The post that was attacked is in the extreme northeast of the country on the junction with Syria and Iraq. It monitors the trade that goes on between Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah.
Rear Admiral Chris Parry has said that with our current forces 'we won't prevail'
GB News
"Quite a lot of the munitions that go to Syria and Hezbollah passed nearby. So the Americans can monitor it. I suspect that's why the base was hit.
"It's also the base for American special forces operations into Iraq and Syria for when they need to take some action, it's a significant escalation by Iran. Any suggestion it has nothing to do with them is ridiculous.
"All these groups are coordinated by Iran, and in many ways, it reflects the instabilities and insecurities within Iran."
The Rear Admiral added: "I'm afraid to say my own experience in that region is if you continue to allow them to do this, they'll establish a new normal where there's continual violence against the US and Western interests in that region.
"So they have to hit back very hard against the perpetrators of this and also hold Iranian assets and personnel at risk. I was reading just now that the Iranians have brought some of their Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp personnel from Syria and Iraq in anticipation of the retaliatory.
He said that 'there is quite a lot of potential for a World War'
PA"We have to hold Iran at risk here and make them pay the penalty. Otherwise, they're simply going to multiply these attacks with their proxies across the region.
"I've been saying for about 5 years that we are confronting an axis of autocracy that consists of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, and they're acting in concert against the free world.
"At the moment, we're seeing Russia push on Ukraine and by implication onto Western Europe, seeing China all over the South and East China Sea. Iran, of course, is destabilizing the Middle East in its interests, and I think you'll see North Korea getting aggressive against South Korea soon.
"To tell the truth, if you join up the dots, there's quite a lot of potential for a World War there. If the free world doesn't stand and resist we're in a situation where almost anything would trigger it.
Chris Parry has said that we 'need to boost our forces'
GB News
"We need to boost our forces. The reason is that our opponents can see the bottom of our locker, both in terms of our capabilities but also our personnel as well.
"If I know all I have to do is fight no more than 180,000 troops in the United Kingdom. I look at the war in Ukraine and say, I can easily deal with that.
"Unless we've got a link to the rest of our society and our society is mobilised against this sort of aggression, we're not going to prevail.
"So there is some truth in what Donald Trump is saying in terms of us being on the brink, or possible brink, of World War 3.
"I'm afraid the escalation is being undertaken by this totalitarian regime, Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea. What is making it worse is that we are more concentrated on things going on internally."
