Tick tock... Doomsday Clock remains precariously close to midnight

A nuclear agreement between Iran and Western powers has not made the world a safer place, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Although many analysts believed the US-Iranian rapprochement would dampen tensions in the Middle East, the group's symbolic "doomsday" clock will stay at three minutes to midnight, the scientists announced on Tuesday,

The group cited continued nuclear threats and climate change as strongest threats to mother earth.

The clock serves as a metaphor for how close mankind is to destroying the planet.

"It remains the closest it has been over the past 20 years," said Rachel Bronson, executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

The decision not to change the clock since 2015 is "not good news" Lawrence Krauss, a cosmologist and professor at Arizona State University told reporters.

One of the main concerns Krauss said was a heightened rivalry between the United States and Russia, two of the world's biggest military powers.

This has been centred on Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory in Europe, and Moscow's intervention in Syria against rebels backed by the US and Gulf countries.

Another major worry is terrorism, which has been a particular concern for Europe after a series of attacks in France, and Arab countries are equally concerned with domestic extremism.

The Islamic State group have hatched a number of attacks from their territories in Syria and Iraq - along with threatening neighbouring countries - and show no major signs of weakening militarily.

A widening Gulf

Posing a threat to almost all countries in the region have also not garnered a sense of unity and the end of sanctions of Iran don't look like they will quick start trade between it and Tehran's Arab neighbours.

Nor has the deal stengthened the reformists' hands in Tehran.

Gulf countries - Saudi Arabia in particular - are at loggerheads with Iran. 

They vocally opposed the nuclear deal believing revenues flowing into the blockaded country will be used to bolster its military capabilities and to extend its overseas reach.

Riyadh's execution of popular Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr also sparked a diplomatic war between Gulf countries and Iran.

Tehran is militarily involved in both the Iraq and Syria wars, and Riyadh is adamant that Tehran wants to dominate the region.

Gulf analysts have also said that the nuclear deal was essentially affirmation of United States and Europe allowing Shia-majority Iran to act as a regional policeman.

Meanwhile Gulf states are suspected of supporting Syrian rebel groups and continue to intervene in Yemen against Houthi rebels, who are allegedly backed by Tehran.

It means tensions are bubbling at boiling point, and is not difficult to see how one small misinterpreted action by one side could lead to a disastrous outcome.