A Beijing academic who’s picked up the nickname ‘The Chinese Nostradamus’ goes viral online after several of his political forecasts appeared to line up eerily closely with real events.
Professor Xueqin Jiang, an educator and author who shares lectures through a YouTube and Substack project called Predictive History, previously foresaw Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term as POTUS and that tensions with Iran would most definitely escalate into all-out war.
Because the Middle East crisis deepens, hundreds of thousands are actually revisiting an earlier lesson of his titled ‘The Iran Trap’, trying to find clues about what he believes may occur next, which incorporates a full-scale invasion carried out by US and UK troops, alongside other allied nations.
Jiang’s videos are released free online and deal with analysing historic patterns to anticipate future events. It’s a sensible way of taking a look at what might occur on the earth, seemingly inspired by a quote from his compatriot, the traditional philosopher Confucius — ‘study the past should you would divine the long run’.
The Beijing-based professor has previously worked with Harvard’s Global Education Innovation Initiative research team, written a book on education reform and organised study abroad programmes at a few of China’s most prestigious schools.
His 2024 lesson about Iran gained renewed traction after military strikes within the region triggered fears of a wider conflict. The lecture has since drawn hundreds of thousands of views as social media users flow into clips of the professor discussing the risks of a serious war.
The crisis escalated when Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a co-ordinated military strike targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities after diplomatic negotiations broke down.
Iran retaliated with a wave of strikes on countries across the Middle East that host US military bases. The attacks in Iran also killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei.
Back in 2024 Jiang wrote that a second Trump presidency could lead on to a direct invasion of Iran. ‘If Trump were to win a second term, he would likely contemplate invading Iran,’ he said.
‘While an initial invasion would appear successful, American forces would quickly turn out to be bogged down in Iran’s mountainous terrain.’ He also predicted that the conflict can be framed as a mission to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities and convey democracy to the region.
After the primary wave of strikes on February 28, Trump released a video defending the choice to attack. His words echoed themes Jiang had previously suggested could be used to justify military motion: ‘It has all the time been the policy of the US, particularly my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again, they’ll never have a nuclear weapon,’ the president said.
Trump also condemned the Iranian government and insisted that military force was in America’s best interests.
As he often does to great effect, Jiang compared the possible course of the war to an event from ancient history. In his lectures he argued that the conflict could mirror Athens’ invasion of Sicily in 415 BCE throughout the Peloponnesian War. Commanders Alcibiades and Nicias launched an ambitious campaign but badly underestimated their opponents, which weakened the Athenian empire.
Jiang suggested the US, under Trump’s leadership, could face the same problem if it became drawn into a chronic conflict with Iran of their difficult terrain. Similar to the US did within the Nineteen Sixties and ’70s in Vietnam.
He identified what he described as three forces pushing the US towards war with Iran. The primary was the influence of the Israel lobby, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The second was what he described as America’s reliance on global empire. ‘America is now hooked on empire, because empire represents easy money. All money must be channeled through the US,’ Jiang said.
The third factor, he argued, was the long-running rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which has played out through proxy conflicts across the region.
Jiang also made several further predictions concerning the way forward for the conflict. He said a ‘full-scale US invasion of Iran’ could possibly be launched in March 2027 with support from Israel and Saudi Arabia, alongside allies including the UK, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Poland.
In interviews he has also argued that Iran holds strategic benefits in a protracted war. ‘The USA military is just not designed to fight a twenty first century war,’ Jiang said.
The renewed interest in his forecasts has drawn comparisons with famous prophetic figures corresponding to Nostradamus and Baba Vanga, whose predictions are sometimes revisited when world events appear to echo their dire warnings.
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