Ten questions help us discern whether the present war on Iran will be an iteration of previous Middle East conflicts or the start of something much worse
Four years ago, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I recall being asked if it was the beginning of the World War III. Today, two weeks into the latest war on Iran, the same question comes up. It is not foolish to ask.
Unlike World War I, which began in 1914 when all the European empires more or less simultaneously activated their war plans, World War II was in truth a series of regional conflicts that did not converge into a unitary global conflict until the end of 1941. We have seen war break out in eastern Europe in 2022 and then in the Middle East in 2023.
The most recent US-Israeli onslaught on Iran may look to future historians like a staging post to a global conflagration. I stress “may”. Because they may also write about Gulf War III. The better ones may see that this can be understood only in the context of Cold War II. But World War III?
Mojtaba Khamenei was reportedly wounded twice in two separate attacks
France 24 reported that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was first wounded during the February 28 attack that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and then wounded again when the hospital… pic.twitter.com/NW9Imm9BAc
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 13, 2026
BREAKING: The Revolutionary Guards headquarters in the Rabat Karim area, near Tehran was destroyed by US-Israeli strikes. pic.twitter.com/eT7tRQOZrQ
— World Source News (@Worldsource24) March 13, 2026
