Professor Xueqin Jiang, widely dubbed China's Nostradamus, made an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, sparking a fierce exchange with economist Steven Keen.

The episode, entitled "Heading For Global DEPRESSION!", broadcast on Tuesday, May 5, saw Jiang issue a stark warning that the world is veering towards a "global depression." Host Piers Morgan pressed him directly: "Professor Jiang, are we heading for a global recession, do you think?"

He responded with an alarming prediction: "I think that we are heading toward a global depression." He went on to say, "And this is a process that could take decades. We are in a new normal. We are in an undiscovered country. We are at a level of destruction, a level of pain and suffering that we are moving toward that is unimaginable. So buckle up!"

Addressing the developing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, he stated: "China is not sitting this out." Jiang continued, "We have the ceasefire in place because China did a lot of backdoor diplomacy in order to pressure the Iranians to attempt a ceasefire.

"This is out of character for China. China does not like to involve itself in other nations' affairs, and so, I think, without Chinese pressure, we would not have the IRGC agreeing to the ceasefire in the first place," he added. "The issue is that the United States continues to be unreasonable in negotiations with the Iranians.

"The Iranians have done a lot in order to try to accommodate the Americans," Jiang added. "But when JD Vance went to Pakistan for the first time to negotiate with the Iranians, basically, it was a very heavy-handed ultimatum to the Iranians. And after that, I think that the Iranians recognize that there really is no hope in negotiating with the Americans."

"The Americans want to escalate. Why? We don't know, but we can expect that over the next few weeks, the escalation will increase," Jiang continued. "Now, Trump has talked about using U.S. naval ships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

"This is clearly a provocation," Jiang said. "And we might have an... incident which will allow Trump to justify a ground invasion."

Economics professor and commentator Steve Keen, who also featured on the hard-hitting panel, confessed to being "terrified" by the potential fallout.

"I'm terrified about what the consequences could be here, because the Iranians have done a very clever tactic of basically guerrilla warfare at a national level, far beyond what the Vietnamese were ready for in the very first instance. And they are doing tit for tat." Keen said.

"Anybody who's been a supporter of America, of course, that includes the Arab principalities and kingdoms and the Israelis as well, will be retaliated for any attack on specific similar resources inside Iran itself," Keen added. "Now, Trump, there's already been one attack on a desalination plant in Iran. And I think I've seen figures to say that 96% of Iran's water is natural.

"You look at the other side, the Arabian side," he pointed out. "Some of them have 96% dependence upon desalination.

"If it goes that far, then we will, and they have no idea how this stupid attack is going to turn out, then that could mean that those areas have to be evacuated because people are not going to starve to death, they're going to die of thirst.

"Now, these horrific possibilities here are just ludicrous," Keen explained. "And it's absolutely a monumental failure of judgment to begin this conflict in the first place."

Warning that the world was on course for a recession, Keen also rounded on Trump's former economics adviser Stephen Moore, branding the US the "evil empire."

He told Morgan: "You guys have got a Hollywood version of your own history. It's a joke from the outside. Nobody takes you seriously anymore! Get used to it!"