“When will World War 3 start?”
“What countries will be destroyed in World War 3?”
“Are we already in World War 3?”

These questions are no longer limited to crank Internet inquiries. Member searches for “World War 3” translated into over a two thousand percent increase in searches globally just in the last few months alone, especially after June 2025, when military activity by Israel, Iran and the U.S. destabilized the entire world. When combined with the existing tensions in a war with Ukraine, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, and tensions in parts of Africa, the world feels very unstable.

While the term World War 3 may seem hyperbolic or sensationalist, current headlines make it seem less distant than we have felt.

Why are People Talking About World War 3 Now?

In the first half of 2025, the world has experienced a compounding series of flashpoints that feel just like the build up to past global conflicts.

1. Israel-Iran Escalation: Israel escalated military activity against Iran in June of 2025, including airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. Iran responded with missile strikes. The U.S. then made a direct strike of its own against Iranian military assets.
2. Russia-Ukraine War Escalation: The war continues to rage on 4 years in with Russia inching closer to Iran and China hinting at new role as the head of an anti-Western alliance.
3. China-Taiwan Flashpoints: China is continuing its recent aggressive military exercises and provocations off of Taiwan’s coast while testing the limits of the U.S., Japan, and South Korean alliances.
4. Rising Proxy Wars: Yemen, Syria, Sudan and other regional strikes are not only local disputes but become battlefields for global superpower competition.

These problems are not isolated. They are multiple simultaneous crises, any one of which could combust, and collectively they form a global tinderbox.

Global flashpoint crises: A breakdown

1. Middle East: The most immediate threat

The Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities–namely, Fordow enrichment facility–representing a major inflection point. Iran’s immediate retaliation included ballistic missiles striking Israeli cities and a cyberattack on Israel’s energy grids.

But the situation escalated after the United States carried out precision airstrikes against Iranian missile bases, authoritatively declaring Iran had “crossed a red line.”

As a result, alert levels for U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria have heightened. Global oil prices have risen. Neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Lebanon are beginning to prepare for spillover effects.

2. Eastern Europe: The New Cold War Heats Up

In Ukraine, the conflict started as a territorial dispute and escalated into a symbolic conflict of East versus West, with Russia taking its war to an entirely new level through droning, artillery shells potentially from North Korea, and possibly technological support from China, which continues to fuel the West’s fears of being sucked deeper into the geopolitical axis.

Meanwhile, NATO is fortifying its eastern borders, and the risk of a misstep triggering direct Russia-NATO confrontation remains dangerously real.

3. Asia-Pacific: A Conflict Between the U.S. and China on Hold

China’s ambitions with Taiwan are far more brazen than in the last 20 years. In early 2025, the news featured simulated amphibious assaults, new electronic warfare, and deliberate targeting of Taiwanese critical infrastructure on a weekly basis. In turn, the United States has increased troop deployments to the South China soup and is now conducting more joint drills with Japan, the Philippines and Australia. If a real Chinese assault occurs against Taiwan, the United States is next to guaranteed to respond, which could lead to a nuclear-armed conflict between the two world’s largest powers.

4. The “Invisible” Wars in Africa and Latin America

As attention remains focused on the Middle East and Europe, the Global South is undergoing wars of a quieter nature, which the media has ignored completely. Civil wars in Sudan and Ethiopia, gang violence in Haiti, and resource-based conflicts in the Sahel region of West African are ongoing and exploding with the aid of global arms flows and the economic environments that foster them, many indirectly supported by these major powers.

What Could Trigger World War 3?

World War 3 most likely will not be formally declared. It may more likely arise out of a series of miscalculations, proxy clashes, or the malfunction of automated military systems. Some possible flashpoints could look like these:

• An Iran-Israel direct confrontation that spreads into Saudi Arabia, Syria, or the UAE.
• A Chinese blockade of Taiwan that leads to U.S. intervention.
• A NATO convoy that has been directly attacked by Russian military forces in Eastern Europe.
• A cyber attack that would cause a successful and catastrophic failure to the infrastructure of a G7 country.

What Countries Would Be Part of World War 3?

While it is impossible to predict precisely how countries would line up, the following is consideration of likely blocs based on alliances and tensions.

The Western Bloc:

• The United States.
• NATO Allies (UK, France, Germany, Canada, and others).
• Japan, South Korea, Australia, potentially India.

The Eastern Bloc:

• Russia.
• Iran.
• China.
• North Korea.
• Proxy forces operating in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Countries that may attempt to remain neutral like Switzerland, Sweden, and parts of Southeast Asia may try to remain above the fray, but as interconnected as the global economy has become, pure neutrality may likely be impossible in today’s economic environment.

What Would World War 3 Look Like?

The ways that World War 3 would aggregate forces, and present even more dangerous scenarios are extremely unpredictable. Unlike the WW1 trench warfare, and WWII aerial campaigns, a third world war would most likely involve at least:

• Cyberwarfare attacks against banks, power grids, satellites, and communications systems.
• Hypersonic missiles: weapons travelling faster-than-sound and with little warning.
• AI-controlled drones and defense systems
• Nuclear threats, especially from powers like Russia and North Korea
• Space warfare, namely, targeting and jamming capabilities of satellites

In a nutshell, World War 3 would not only be fought with bombs, but also with code, disinformation and economic sabotage.

When Could World War 3 Start?

There’s no calendar date. However, the indicators suggest that the 2020s are at greater risk for a global war than any decade since the 1940s. Military spending is rising, global diplomacy is becoming weaker, nuclear modernization, and digital misinformation are producing a combustible mix.

Several experts, including intelligence analysts, as well as some astrologers such as Kushal Kumar, have flagged mid-to-late 2025 as a particularly dangerous period. While I do not believe astrology is a useful driver of policy, it may reflect a broader section of public sentiment that something big-and-bad is coming.

Is it too late to postpone it?

Not yet. While the world is perilously on the precipice, several useful reminders throughout history, tell us that “calmer heads” often prevail. De-escalation talks, backchannel diplomacy, and public pressure have not entirely lost their influence yet.

Here’s what is still possible:

• Strengthening the authority of the UN
• Re-establishing nuclear disarmament talks
• Reducing arms sales in conflict zones
• Higher levels of international pressure on war-sustaining regimes

Historically, the world has survived Cold War “standoffs “, Cuban missile crisis’, and brinkmanship. But it will take cooperation, restraint, and public pressure to do so again.

Conclusion: Will there be a World War 3?

Without definitively saying yes, we can say the conditions exist for one.

If 2025 continues as it is—with violence rising in the Middle East; wars in Ukraine; U.S.-China rivalry; and increasing fragmented world order—then World War 3 may not only be possible. It may be inevitable.

But in the worst times in history, humanity has often preferred diplomacy than destruction; that is a choice; for now, that choice remains; however time is running out.

Read about: Who Has Nuclear Weapons And What Happens If They’re Used?