Forget fears about World War Three being over the horizon, as one of Vladimir Putin's generals claims we're already in the midst of the next big global conflict.
The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than ever before in 2025, with part of that being to do with escalating geopolitical troubles. While there's been much talk about Russia triggering WWIII, the situation in Israel looks like it could be a catalyst.
Three civilians were killed in an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv, with Iran warning that intervention from the West will lead to strikes on its own bases. Adding fuel to the already raging fire, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared, “If Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn."
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Iran's Mehr News Agency warned: "Any country that participates in repelling Iran's attacks on Israel will be subject to Iranian forces targeting all regional bases of the complicit government, including military bases in the Persian Gulf countries and ships and naval vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea."
These words might be falling on deaf ears, as one of Vladimir Putin's generals has called for the Russian Prime Minister to mobilize troops and remind the world of the country's vast nuclear arsenal.
Posting on social media platform Telegram, Apti Alaudinov wrote, "We need to declare mobilisation."
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Saying that Russia could deploy up to one million troops, the deputy chief of Russia's armed forces added: "We need to prepare at least half a million people in advance. But realistically one million people. We need to call them up and start preparing them for the fact that the war has already begun, which we already know is happening - World War 3. But it has already taken on a new turn and a new momentum.
"And so that no one dares to play with us the way they played with all the other countries, and now with Iran. Believe me, we all need to unite, unite, unite at all levels."
This isn't Alaudinov's first foray into warfare, with Putin's close ally being heavily involved in Russia's war with Ukraine and trying to regain the Kursk region from Kyiv's troops.
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Alaudinov has also suggested there could be further action, sharing a message from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that demands 'severe retribution' against Israel for its own attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims the Israeli military targeted facilities where Tehran is attempting to build a nuclear bomb. Elsewhere, there are fears that Russia could use this as an opportunity to move on a distracted and weakened United States. The United Kingdom's Sir Keir Starmer has asked both Israel and Iran to show restraint, but for many, they think World War Three isn't simply knocking at the door. It could already be here.