{"id":1811124,"date":"2026-03-06T14:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1811124"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:46:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:46:00","slug":"are-we-really-heading-for-world-war-3-heres-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1811124","title":{"rendered":"Are we really heading for World War 3? Here\u2019s everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/327-205-2673-1782\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/0\/1440606.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/life-culture\/article\/69837\/1\/are-we-heading-world-war-3-iran-us-lebanon-gaza-middle-east\" data-article-id=\"69837\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.5\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"free iran protest war\" class=\"img\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1400\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/0\/1440606.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">hoto by Matthew Hoen\/NurPhoto via <span class=\"nowrap\">Getty Images<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-06T14:46:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"06 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"6\">6,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - life-culture\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\">Life &amp; Culture<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/guide\">Guide<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\">Life &amp; Culture<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/guide\">Guide<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Are we really heading for World War 3? Here\u2019s everything you need <span class=\"nowrap\">to know<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>As the conflict in West Asia escalates, we unpack the ramifications \u2013 from whether Russia and China will get involved, to the effect on global supply chains, <span class=\"nowrap\">and more<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-06T14:46:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"06 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"6\">6,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-06T14:46:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"06 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"6\">6,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/JamesGreig\">James Greig<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Since the US and Israel launched a joint attack on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/iran\">Iran<\/a> last week,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/3\/questions-over-minab-girls-school-strike-as-israel-us-deny-involvement\"><span>killing<\/span><\/a><span> 165 schoolgirls and staff at a primary school, the country\u2019s leader, Ali Khamenei, and countless others on the first day alone, social media has been awash with jokes about World War 3. Along with more entrepreneurial types hawking essential items we\u2019ll apparently need in the nuclear apocalypse, people are posting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/popular\/outfits-for-ww3\/\">WW3 outfit inspo<\/a> and making complaints about the fact that they still have to sign into their morning Teams meeting. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If you\u2019re experiencing this war primarily through your phone screen, it\u2019s more than a little glib to reduce the suffering and deaths of other people into jokes about how anxiety-inducing it is for <\/span><em><span>you. <\/span><\/em><span>But at the same time, there is plenty to be anxious about. The human cost for people in the region has already been catastrophic. The death toll has now <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/4\/death-toll-in-iran-surpasses-1000-as-israel-us-strikes-continue#:~:text=News%7CConflict-,Death%20toll%20in%20Iran%20surpasses%201%2C000%20as%20Israel%2DUS%20strikes,has%20been%20postponed%20amid%20explosions.\"><span>surpassed 1000<\/span><\/a><span> in Iran, 123 in Lebanon, and 111 in Israel. Six US soldiers have also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c4gq33ynl07o\">been reported dead<\/a> (although there\u2019s speculation that the real figure is higher). Almost the entire region is ablaze, with Iran attacking Gulf states with US bases, including Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and anti-US protests breaking out in Iraq and Pakistan, where at least 22 people were killed after security forces opened fire. For the time being, a ceasefire is off the table.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, annoying memes and TikTok grifters aside, are we actually looking at World War 3? The short answer is probably not, but it\u2019s complicated. At the very least, the US and Israel have guaranteed that the world will be a more dangerous and volatile place in the months, years and possibly decades to come. Below, we unpack the likelihood of global war.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<h1><strong>WHY YOU SHOULDN\u2019T PANIC<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><span>Some experts believe that we are <\/span><em><span>already<\/span><\/em><span> in WW3, and that it\u2019s just taken a different form this time round: less head-on confrontation and more proxy conflicts, economic warfare and cyber attacks. But when most people hear the phrase, they\u2019re probably thinking about a traditional military conflict with major powers lining up on either side. In this case, that would mean Russia or China (or both) getting involved, and so far there\u2019s no indication that this is going to happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, China and Russia are allies of Iran, and they have both called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and denounced the assassination of Khamenei. Iran is also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/maritime-executive.com\/article\/chinese-and-russian-satellite-feeds-aid-iranian-war-effort\"><span>using<\/span><\/a><span> Russian and Chinese satellites. But in the last week and more generally, neither state has shown any willingness to engage in a direct military confrontation with the US. In fact, both have strong incentives to keep Trump on side: Russia is relying on his support for a favourable settlement to the war in Ukraine; China is keen to end the trade war, carried out over the years and by successive US presidents, which has strained its economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Writing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreignaffairs.com\/china\/why-china-wont-help-iran\"><em>Foreign Affairs<\/em><\/a>, foreign policy analyst Yun Sun acknowledges that the longer the war goes on, the greater the pressure there will be on China to support Iran (providing supplies like drones, for example), but this would still stop short of a full-scale military intervention. As it stands, neither country looks set to take more decisive action. In fact, Russia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/04\/middle-east-conflict-offers-economic-lifeline-to-russias-flagging-war-machine\">stands to benefit<\/a> more than any other nation from the war, which will send the price of oil skyrocketing and increase its power as an energy supplier, at a time when its wartime economy is stagnating. So other\u00a0<span>than the Houthis, who have yet to jump in, it&#8217;s at this stage unlikely that anyone else is going to take military action against the US.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The second thing that usually comes to mind when we talk about WW3 is the prospect of nuclear annihilation. Over the past fortnight, lots of people in the US, in particular, have been worried about the prospect of an incoming strike. But Iran doesn\u2019t have nuclear weapons (if it did, the US and Israel almost certainly wouldn\u2019t have attacked \u2013 notice that no one has ever tried it on with North Korea). Khamenei actually issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, and while Iran does have nuclear facilities, which it insists are for civilian purposes only, these were attacked by a joint US-Israel operation last summer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>How much damage this actually caused remains unclear, but Trump himself <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2026\/02\/24\/politics\/nuclear-program-iran-trump-strike\"><span>boasted<\/span><\/a><span> at the time that the facilities were \u201cobliterated\u201d. He\u2019s now changed his story, so take that claim with a pinch of salt, but not even the most ardent Western supporters of the war claim that Iran possesses nuclear weapons. Unless Russia or China step in, we\u2019re probably not on the imminent brink of the apocalypse (touch wood!) and civilians in the US \u2013 far beyond the range of Iran\u2019s missiles \u2013 don\u2019t need to worry about immediate retaliation. Of course, now that Khamenei is out of the way, his successor might not be quite so reluctant to enrich that uranium.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<h1><span>&#8230; AND WHY YOU SHOULD<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span>Obviously, it is cause for alarm that the world\u2019s leading power is a rogue state led by reckless, warmongering psychopaths, many of whom are also deeply stupid (it\u2019s true the US has never been bound by international law, but the fact it\u2019s no longer even pretending is still a disturbing direction of travel). Except for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, no Western leader is willing to acknowledge this reality, much less do anything about it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And while social media posts about living through the apocalypse might be self-indulgent, there are plenty of powerful figures in the US who are determined to bring about exactly that outcome. T<\/span><span>he Military Religious Freedom Foundation has just <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/03\/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric\"><span>reported<\/span><\/a><span> 200 complaints of senior figures justifying the war with rhetoric about \u201cthe end times\u201d and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. On a similar note, Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel, recently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/israel\/outcry-us-ambassador-mike-huckabee-israel-god-right-middle-east-rcna260133\"><span>suggested<\/span><\/a><span> that Israel has the God-given right to take over more or less the entire Middle East and \u201cit would be fine if they took it all\u201d. When religious extremists like this, in both Israel and the US, are within spitting distance of the nuclear codes, talking about the end times doesn\u2019t seem quite so absurd.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In terms of the international impact the war might have, we might learn from the example of Iraq, which destabilised the MENA region and led quite directly to the formation of groups like ISIS, and by extension, every related terrorist attack carried out over the last two decades. The kind of destabilisation which occurred in Iraq, Syria and Libya (where Western intervention led to the emergence of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/political-science\/articles\/10.3389\/fpos.2025.1536457\/full\"><span>open-air slave markets<\/span><\/a><span>, among other atrocities too countless to list) is essentially Israel\u2019s ideal outcome in Iran \u2013 not so much regime change but total state collapse. Perhaps to that end, Israel and the US are attacking civilian institutions, like<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2026\/mar\/05\/at-least-dozen-hospital-and-health-facilities-in-iran-hit-since-us-israel-attacks-began-who-says\"><span> hospitals<\/span><\/a><span>, health facilities and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellingcat.com\/news\/middle-east\/2026\/03\/04\/satellite-imagery-reveals-strikes-on-iranian-police-stations\/\"><span>police stations<\/span><\/a><span>, \u00a0along with military targets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As Danny Citrinowicz, Iran expert and senior researcher at Tel Aviv\u2019s Institute for National Security Studies, told the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/dd070ee7-7021-4f90-86ec-690fe6aa34e6\"><em><span>Financial Times<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> yesterday, \u201cIf we can have a coup, great. If we can have people on the streets, great. If we can have a civil war, great. Israel couldn\u2019t care less about the future\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. [or] the stability of Iran.\u201d The Iranian government currently looks more resilient than the Trump administration had anticipated \u2013 they really seemed to think the war would be over in a matter of days. But if the Iranian state does collapse, there will inevitably be blowback beyond its borders, along with the disastrous effects on its civilian population. And looking at the events of the past fortnight, any state with an adversarial relationship to the US might now reasonably conclude that it\u2019s a good idea to acquire nuclear weapons as soon as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the short term, the war in Iran could lead to civil unrest across the world and particularly in Europe. After Iran has warned vessels not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea passage through which 20 per cent of the world\u2019s energy supplies have to navigate, there has already been a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/oil-prices-rise-iran-conflict-widens-2026-03-05\/\"><span>sharp spike<\/span><\/a><span> in the price of oil (the US, as the world\u2019s largest oil exporter, will, for the most part, be insulated from these effects.) According to some estimates, energy bills could rise by as much as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/money\/2026\/mar\/04\/iran-conflict-energy-bills-gas-prices\"><span>\u00a3160<\/span><\/a><span> per year in Britain, fuel for motorists could become much more expensive, and there may be knock-on effects on the price of food. A large percentage of the world&#8217;s fertiliser supplies also pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which could also severely strain global agricultural production \u2013 this is where US consumers are more likely to feel the sting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>High gas prices, along with spikes in the cost-of-living more generally, are the most common predictors of riots, even when they\u2019re sparked by something unrelated. Considering the UK\u2019s recent history of racist pogroms, and the general atmosphere of anger and volatility across Europe and in the US, the coming year could be very bleak. Maybe you should be allowed to skip that Teams meeting after all.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! 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Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Since the US and Israel launched a joint attack on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/iran\">Iran<\/a> last week,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/3\/questions-over-minab-girls-school-strike-as-israel-us-deny-involvement\"><span>killing<\/span><\/a><span> 165 schoolgirls and staff at a primary school, the country\u2019s leader, Ali Khamenei, and countless others on the first day alone, social media has been awash with jokes about World War 3. Along with more entrepreneurial types hawking essential items we\u2019ll apparently need in the nuclear apocalypse, people are posting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/popular\/outfits-for-ww3\/\">WW3 outfit inspo<\/a> and making complaints about the fact that they still have to sign into their morning Teams meeting. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If you\u2019re experiencing this war primarily through your phone screen, it\u2019s more than a little glib to reduce the suffering and deaths of other people into jokes about how anxiety-inducing it is for <\/span><em><span>you. <\/span><\/em><span>But at the same time, there is plenty to be anxious about. The human cost for people in the region has already been catastrophic. The death toll has now <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/4\/death-toll-in-iran-surpasses-1000-as-israel-us-strikes-continue#:~:text=News%7CConflict-,Death%20toll%20in%20Iran%20surpasses%201%2C000%20as%20Israel%2DUS%20strikes,has%20been%20postponed%20amid%20explosions.\"><span>surpassed 1000<\/span><\/a><span> in Iran, 123 in Lebanon, and 111 in Israel. Six US soldiers have also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c4gq33ynl07o\">been reported dead<\/a> (although there\u2019s speculation that the real figure is higher). Almost the entire region is ablaze, with Iran attacking Gulf states with US bases, including Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and anti-US protests breaking out in Iraq and Pakistan, where at least 22 people were killed after security forces opened fire. For the time being, a ceasefire is off the table.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, annoying memes and TikTok grifters aside, are we actually looking at World War 3? The short answer is probably not, but it\u2019s complicated. At the very least, the US and Israel have guaranteed that the world will be a more dangerous and volatile place in the months, years and possibly decades to come. Below, we unpack the likelihood of global war.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<h1><strong>WHY YOU SHOULDN\u2019T PANIC<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><span>Some experts believe that we are <\/span><em><span>already<\/span><\/em><span> in WW3, and that it\u2019s just taken a different form this time round: less head-on confrontation and more proxy conflicts, economic warfare and cyber attacks. But when most people hear the phrase, they\u2019re probably thinking about a traditional military conflict with major powers lining up on either side. In this case, that would mean Russia or China (or both) getting involved, and so far there\u2019s no indication that this is going to happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, China and Russia are allies of Iran, and they have both called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and denounced the assassination of Khamenei. Iran is also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/maritime-executive.com\/article\/chinese-and-russian-satellite-feeds-aid-iranian-war-effort\"><span>using<\/span><\/a><span> Russian and Chinese satellites. But in the last week and more generally, neither state has shown any willingness to engage in a direct military confrontation with the US. In fact, both have strong incentives to keep Trump on side: Russia is relying on his support for a favourable settlement to the war in Ukraine; China is keen to end the trade war, carried out over the years and by successive US presidents, which has strained its economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Writing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreignaffairs.com\/china\/why-china-wont-help-iran\"><em>Foreign Affairs<\/em><\/a>, foreign policy analyst Yun Sun acknowledges that the longer the war goes on, the greater the pressure there will be on China to support Iran (providing supplies like drones, for example), but this would still stop short of a full-scale military intervention. As it stands, neither country looks set to take more decisive action. In fact, Russia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/04\/middle-east-conflict-offers-economic-lifeline-to-russias-flagging-war-machine\">stands to benefit<\/a> more than any other nation from the war, which will send the price of oil skyrocketing and increase its power as an energy supplier, at a time when its wartime economy is stagnating. So other\u00a0<span>than the Houthis, who have yet to jump in, it&#8217;s at this stage unlikely that anyone else is going to take military action against the US.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The second thing that usually comes to mind when we talk about WW3 is the prospect of nuclear annihilation. Over the past fortnight, lots of people in the US, in particular, have been worried about the prospect of an incoming strike. But Iran doesn\u2019t have nuclear weapons (if it did, the US and Israel almost certainly wouldn\u2019t have attacked \u2013 notice that no one has ever tried it on with North Korea). Khamenei actually issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, and while Iran does have nuclear facilities, which it insists are for civilian purposes only, these were attacked by a joint US-Israel operation last summer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>How much damage this actually caused remains unclear, but Trump himself <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2026\/02\/24\/politics\/nuclear-program-iran-trump-strike\"><span>boasted<\/span><\/a><span> at the time that the facilities were \u201cobliterated\u201d. He\u2019s now changed his story, so take that claim with a pinch of salt, but not even the most ardent Western supporters of the war claim that Iran possesses nuclear weapons. Unless Russia or China step in, we\u2019re probably not on the imminent brink of the apocalypse (touch wood!) and civilians in the US \u2013 far beyond the range of Iran\u2019s missiles \u2013 don\u2019t need to worry about immediate retaliation. Of course, now that Khamenei is out of the way, his successor might not be quite so reluctant to enrich that uranium.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<h1><span>&#8230; AND WHY YOU SHOULD<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span>Obviously, it is cause for alarm that the world\u2019s leading power is a rogue state led by reckless, warmongering psychopaths, many of whom are also deeply stupid (it\u2019s true the US has never been bound by international law, but the fact it\u2019s no longer even pretending is still a disturbing direction of travel). Except for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, no Western leader is willing to acknowledge this reality, much less do anything about it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And while social media posts about living through the apocalypse might be self-indulgent, there are plenty of powerful figures in the US who are determined to bring about exactly that outcome. T<\/span><span>he Military Religious Freedom Foundation has just <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/03\/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric\"><span>reported<\/span><\/a><span> 200 complaints of senior figures justifying the war with rhetoric about \u201cthe end times\u201d and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. On a similar note, Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel, recently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/israel\/outcry-us-ambassador-mike-huckabee-israel-god-right-middle-east-rcna260133\"><span>suggested<\/span><\/a><span> that Israel has the God-given right to take over more or less the entire Middle East and \u201cit would be fine if they took it all\u201d. When religious extremists like this, in both Israel and the US, are within spitting distance of the nuclear codes, talking about the end times doesn\u2019t seem quite so absurd.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In terms of the international impact the war might have, we might learn from the example of Iraq, which destabilised the MENA region and led quite directly to the formation of groups like ISIS, and by extension, every related terrorist attack carried out over the last two decades. The kind of destabilisation which occurred in Iraq, Syria and Libya (where Western intervention led to the emergence of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/political-science\/articles\/10.3389\/fpos.2025.1536457\/full\"><span>open-air slave markets<\/span><\/a><span>, among other atrocities too countless to list) is essentially Israel\u2019s ideal outcome in Iran \u2013 not so much regime change but total state collapse. Perhaps to that end, Israel and the US are attacking civilian institutions, like<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2026\/mar\/05\/at-least-dozen-hospital-and-health-facilities-in-iran-hit-since-us-israel-attacks-began-who-says\"><span> hospitals<\/span><\/a><span>, health facilities and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellingcat.com\/news\/middle-east\/2026\/03\/04\/satellite-imagery-reveals-strikes-on-iranian-police-stations\/\"><span>police stations<\/span><\/a><span>, \u00a0along with military targets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As Danny Citrinowicz, Iran expert and senior researcher at Tel Aviv\u2019s Institute for National Security Studies, told the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/dd070ee7-7021-4f90-86ec-690fe6aa34e6\"><em><span>Financial Times<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> yesterday, \u201cIf we can have a coup, great. If we can have people on the streets, great. If we can have a civil war, great. Israel couldn\u2019t care less about the future\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. [or] the stability of Iran.\u201d The Iranian government currently looks more resilient than the Trump administration had anticipated \u2013 they really seemed to think the war would be over in a matter of days. But if the Iranian state does collapse, there will inevitably be blowback beyond its borders, along with the disastrous effects on its civilian population. And looking at the events of the past fortnight, any state with an adversarial relationship to the US might now reasonably conclude that it\u2019s a good idea to acquire nuclear weapons as soon as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the short term, the war in Iran could lead to civil unrest across the world and particularly in Europe. After Iran has warned vessels not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea passage through which 20 per cent of the world\u2019s energy supplies have to navigate, there has already been a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/oil-prices-rise-iran-conflict-widens-2026-03-05\/\"><span>sharp spike<\/span><\/a><span> in the price of oil (the US, as the world\u2019s largest oil exporter, will, for the most part, be insulated from these effects.) According to some estimates, energy bills could rise by as much as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/money\/2026\/mar\/04\/iran-conflict-energy-bills-gas-prices\"><span>\u00a3160<\/span><\/a><span> per year in Britain, fuel for motorists could become much more expensive, and there may be knock-on effects on the price of food. A large percentage of the world&#8217;s fertiliser supplies also pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which could also severely strain global agricultural production \u2013 this is where US consumers are more likely to feel the sting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>High gas prices, along with spikes in the cost-of-living more generally, are the most common predictors of riots, even when they\u2019re sparked by something unrelated. Considering the UK\u2019s recent history of racist pogroms, and the general atmosphere of anger and volatility across Europe and in the US, the coming year could be very bleak. Maybe you should be allowed to skip that Teams meeting after all.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69837\/1\/are-we-heading-world-war-3-iran-us-lebanon-gaza-middle-east&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/327-205-2673-1782\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/0\/1440606.jpg&#8221;] hoto by Matthew Hoen\/NurPhoto via Getty Images March\u00a0 6,\u00a0 2026 Life &amp; Culture \/ Guide Life &amp; Culture \/ Guide Are we really heading for World War 3? Here\u2019s everything you need to know As the conflict in West Asia escalates, we unpack the ramifications \u2013 from whether Russia and China will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1811124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1811124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1811124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1811124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1811124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}