Unlike the generations of the past who listened to radio and read newspaper, today’s community turns to social media. This tool has provided billions of individuals the ability to communicate and post information worldwide. At the same time, becoming a source of frantic misinformation, most notably during times of political conflict. 

Recently, thousands of people have developed a fear that the world has entered has WWIII. Leading to individuals to panic and search for resources needed in case of disater. Although what are the facts behind these posts, has World War III realy begun?

The Iran-Israel Conflict

The most recent conflict to gain worldwide concern was the Iran-Israel War, which grew intensively in June 2025. The tensions among these two countries have been thickening for decades since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1978. The matter in this proxy conflict escalated when Israel developed heightened skeptisims of Iran’s nuclear program. Although Iran has affirmed it’s program is for peaceful purposes, Israel continued to believe it was a potential threat.

On Friday, June 13, 2025, Israel attacked Iran's nuclear and military bases, killing various supreme scientists and generals. In retaliation, Iran fired missles targeting Israeli air defense systems. As the United States joined the conflict, President Donald J. Trump instructed to launch airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear site in Fordo. This attack caused major destruction and intended to pressure Iran into peace.  

However, Iran responded by launching numerous missiles at both Isreali and U.S military facilities. As the cycle of retaliation continued, and threats escalated, a ceasefire was eventually negotiated. On Monday night, June 23rd, President Trump announced that a ceasefire would take effect at 6:00 PM PDT, as Iran agreed to crease attacks by 4:00 AM Tehran time. While there was a slight breach, as both sides (Iran & Israel) launched missiles, the ceasefire became intact and held effective, on fragile terms. 

Ongoing Russia-Ukraine War

The second major war is the Russia-Ukraine War, which has continued for over four years. While it originally stirred global attention, the public interest has faded since. As they share a conflicting past, this war has been the most brutal extent of their relationship. In 2014, Russia invaded Crimea, Ukraine, insisting the action was to protect the rights of Russian citizens and Russian speakers. This became the start of their tension, which only grew to become an active stalemate. 

The war began on February 24, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation leading to the invasion of Belarus and Crimea. The raid went on to cause havoc, over the course of that year, missiles struck various cities, as well as military invasion. Additionally, during the spring of 2022, Russia besieged the city of Mariupol, resulting in heavy casualties. However, by summer and fall of 2022, Ukraine was able to reclaimed land and push back Russian forces. Unfortunately, this matter did not last as the Battle for Bakhmut began at the end of 2022 and finished in 2023, leaving major casualties and a significant victory for Russia. 

Through 2023, the war began to wear, as the United States and NATO provided resources of aid and weapon support to Ukraine. Despite the war causing thousands of innocent civilian deaths, under management of U.S President Donald J Trump, the U.S slowed it’s aid and raised concerns about withdrawing from NATO. Such a critical move would have major impacts as Ukraines unstable economy heavily relies on Western aid. Furthermore, leaving NATO could weaken global alliances and weaken military power as the U.S provides many troops and weapons.

Is WWIII Soon to Begin? 

While these major destructive conflicts may have triggered worry among the people, there is not yet an official declaration of world war. As nuclear threats are driving into discussion as well as alliances and proxy wars, these countries must maintain their stability. Jumping to conclusions after viewing an unknown individual speak on a worldwide social media application is an unreliable source of information. There is no prevention of misinformation and use to further spread information that one is unsure is accurate or not. Checking the fact by simple search engine or viewing the news shall always be more reliable than viewing an influencer speaking on a topic they are uneducated about.