Mideast Meltdown

The Mideast Meltdown, also known as the Suicide War, was a series of nuclear conflicts in the Middle East that occurred in 1997. It happened among the aftereffects of the Crash of '94 and in the midst of the Collapse, which saw the large-scale unraveling of Western civilization.

History
Tensions with the countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa reached an end in 1997 when an exchange of nuclear warfare left large swaths land as radioactive glass-like fields. Vast areas of the countries of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Chad, and the Arab Emirates were all but destroyed. Only Egypt, Syria, and Israel managed to survive intact due to being in an already-ruined state caused by the war, and as such, were left alone. Due to the use of thermonuclear weapons, radioactive fallout from the war spread worldwide.

The resulting conflicts in the region would see oil prices skyrocket as world oil supply was cut in half. Shortly after, the United States co-opted the entire island of Oahu "to ensure the security of Hawaii and the rest of the nation."

The events of the 1997 Iran-Iraq War resulted in large losses for United States military assets in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia owing to a massive intelligence failure.

Legacy
By the 2020s, the impacted areas had become safe enough for scavengers, as well as other individuals willing to traverse them, to scavenge and collect hardware and valuables from the ruined fields. By 2045, with the influence of corporations being fractured and reduced by the legacy of the Fourth Corporate War, interested allies and blocs came together to take control of the regions destroyed in the Meltdown, for the purposes of mining and resource gathering, forcing many Middle Eastern nations to reform and attempt to resist the invading groups.

By 2077, the fallout created by the "Suicide War" caused annual radioactive sandstorms in the ruins of Syria, Iraq, and Iran that dropped irradiated dust onto Turkey, the Mediterranean, and Europe.