Nuclear weapons, Ukraine and Iran: The world is losing its brakes

The skies over several regions seem never to quiet. Drones cross borders, long-range missiles blur the line between local wars and great-power involvement, and warships maneuver in strategic waters. Around Taiwan, the Strait of Hormuz, Ukraine and the Middle East, tensions have become a persistent condition. From Moscow, nuclear signals are also being voiced more openly.

That atmosphere has revived an old phrase: World War III. But the article asks whether the world is truly moving toward a global war, or facing something more complicated, the breakdown of an international order that for decades helped major powers recognize when to stop.

Three international-relations thinkers writing in early September 2026 approach the question from different directions. Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs and research director at the Valdai International Discussion Club, focuses on the psychology of nuclear deterrence. Leon Hadar, writing in Asia Times, warns against turning fear into alarmism by treating every regional conflict as a route to World War III. Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, examines the issue through US nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

Lukyanov begins with a Cold War paradox: nuclear weapons were created as instruments of war, yet their destructive power helped prevent the largest war. Washington and Moscow understood that direct confrontation could produce mutual destruction. That fear supported treaties, disarmament conferences, international institutions and diplomatic language.

Parsi questions why uranium-enrichment technology rejected for Iran for decades could be made available to Riyadh under what he considers looser oversight. Together, the three analyses suggest that the world may not stand on the threshold of World War III, but the mechanisms that once made states stop before going too far are under increasing strain.