The risk of nuclear war has risen amid mounting tension between the West and Russia, peers warn today.

The threat is the worst in the 30 years since the end of the Cold War, according to a House of Lords committee.

It fears an accident or honest mistake could unleash a crisis which leads to the firing of a devastating nuke.

The siren alert comes in a landmark report by the Lords International Relations Committee.

A House of Lords committee has drawn up the report (
Image:
PA)

Unveiling its report, ‘Rising nuclear risk, disarmament and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’, the committee says: “Misunderstanding, miscalculation or mistakes could lead to the use of nuclear weapons.

“There is a lack of understanding between nuclear possessor states on their respective nuclear doctrines and declaratory policies, for example what the response would be to a cyber-attack on a country’s nuclear command and control system.”

Hopes were raised last year of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsular, following the Singapore summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The historic meeting fuelled hopes of a breakthrough (
Image:
AFP/Getty Images)

But, despite a second summit in Vietnam earlier this year, there have been few signs of progress.

And the US President previously triggered anger by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama.

And both the White House and the Kremlin have suspended the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Signed in 1987 by the US and USSR, it banned the use of short and medium-range missiles by both countries.

The Lords committee says that “largely as a result of the worsening security environment, global progress towards disarmament has stalled”.

The Cold War ended three decades ago (
Image:
PA)

It goes on: “Tensions between nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states regarding the pace of disarmament puts pressure on the existing non-proliferation regime in the run-up to the 2020 Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference.

“Global nuclear non-proliferation efforts have been undermined by the US’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

“The collapse of nuclear arms control agreements, such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, risks further increasing the possibility that nuclear weapons could be used.”

Committee chairman Lord Howell of Guildford said: “We are now dangerously close to a world without arms control agreements, paving the way for a new arms race and for increased risk of nuclear weapons use.

“Disintegrating relationships between nuclear possessor states, new capabilities and technologies, mixed with a lack of communication and understanding, mean that the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater now than it has been since the Cold War.”