A former director of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has urged Gulf nations to prevent Donald Trump from turning the region into “a ball of fire” after the US president’s latest threat to Tehran, AFP reports.

“To the Gulf governments: Please, once again, do everything in your power before this madman turns the region into a ball of fire,” Mohamed El-Baradei, who led the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 to 2009, wrote on X.

In a separate post also referencing Trump’s ultimatum to Iran that it will face “all hell” unless it strikes a deal, El-Baradei tagged UN and European Union accounts, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Nothing can be done to stop this madness?!” he wrote, also tagging the Chinese and Russian foreign ministries.