Dimitrios Patelis | Founding member of the Revolutionary Theory Group (Greece)
There is an escalation in the scope and intensity of World War III (WWIII). While the conflict with Russia in Ukraine has been ongoing for over four years in a protracted war of attrition, the US and Israel launched operations against Iran on 13 June 2025. This so-called ‘12-day war’ saw them soundly defeated, despite the Iranians not utilising their full potential, and they hastened to fall back, pretending that they ‘achieved their objectives’.
Further escalation occurred in Latin America on 3 January 2026, when the US launched airstrikes on multiple locations across northern Venezuela, including the capital Caracas, as part of a mafia-style operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. This marked an escalation of aggression throughout Latin America, with a focus on the Caribbean, and ultimately on Cuba, the first country of early socialism on the American continent. The aim is to escalate the inhumane energy, food and economic strangulation of the country in order to achieve ‘regime change’ and/or military occupation.
In the US, two official documents were released in parallel: the ‘National Security Strategy’ and the ‘National Defence Strategy’ (NDS) in December 2025 and January 2026[1] respectively. These documents―at least in their published sections―present a rather peculiar narrative: they attempt to revive the ‘Monroe Doctrine’, while largely obscuring their true objectives. They avoid naming Russia and China as their main enemies directly. These texts have deceived many people who believed that the US regime would honestly limit itself to the so-called ‘Western Hemisphere’. Some even took these words, a smokescreen for the world, at face value only to be disillusioned by the massive concentration of firepower in the Indian Ocean and the US-Israeli attack on Iran, which began on 28 February 2026. This proves that the major military operation―the opening of a new, large-scale theatre of operations for World War III―is taking place in Southwest Asia, not Latin America. We observe that the conflict is escalating and intensifying rapidly, in conjunction with a surge in information warfare, disinformation and psychological warfare.
The imperialist axis is struggling to maintain the strategic initiative, which provides it with an advantage, but does not guarantee ultimate victory. It seeks to regain power in order to establish a global dictatorship and secure its neo-colonialist hegemony. Since the victory of the bourgeois counter-revolution and the launch of capitalist restoration in the USSR and other early socialist countries in Europe, it has acted methodically and pre-emptively. It used the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a testing ground and a general rehearsal for scenarios involving the combined use of bribery, deception, ‘divide and conquer’ tactics (utilising nationalist, religious and regional hatred, artificial borders, and client states), brute force, proxy wars, ‘colour revolutions’, interventions and regime change operations.
The open wound of Yugoslavia is a model of ‘controlled chaos’ through ‘Balkanisation’, with the potential for all disputes and conflicts to be reignited. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, this is being orchestrated not only for the dismantling of Czechoslovakia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, but also, prospectively, Russia itself (with flashpoints in the Transcaucasus, Transnistria and Donbass), Iran and China. This is evident in imperialism’s manoeuvres in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, characterised by the rapid NATOisation of both ‘age-old enemies’ and the active involvement of the US, UK, France, Turkey and Israel.
This model is also being applied to client states that emerged from the dissolution of the USSR in Central Asia, using many ethnic, cultural and religious vehicles. A typical example of this is the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS). The latter’s stated objectives include the promotion of multilateral cooperation among Turkic-speaking states, the strengthening of political, economic, commercial, transport and cultural ties; the protection, teaching and promotion of shared Turkic history, language, culture, education and traditions; economic integration, and the standardisation of defence specifications (as in NATO) etc., all under Turkey’s leadership. Typical is also the case of the partnership between Turkey and Israel in the dismantling and occupation of Syria, as well as in providing Azerbaijan’s armed and security forces with strong operational support, organisation and command, equipment, and training, as well as the effort to create a fait accompli against Russia and Iran via the Turkey-Azerbaijan connection and the ‘Zangezur’ land corridor.
The aggressor axis is methodically escalating WWIII through successive asymmetric pre-emptive strikes against each consecutive ‘weak link’ of the opposing socialist and anti-imperialist forces. This escalation takes place across multiple levels of preparation and a wide range of capabilities and priorities, involving flexibility and the identification of opportunities in battle and opportunistic risk-taking.
What gives the imperialist axis of aggression the ability to take the strategic initiative, beyond its accumulated economic and military-technical power, which has largely been sustained despite its decline, is the theoretical and practical organisational inadequacy of the opposing pole, and its inability to oppose the axis as a cohesive entity.
The current efforts to dismantle Russia in the protracted Ukrainian theatre of operations through sanctions, etc., have led to the Trump administration’s increasingly fascist shift in priorities towards the supposed ‘distancing’ from the Ukrainian theatre of operations. This will draw in the European component of the axis economically and militarily, providing the US with greater monopoly superprofits and the flexibility to launch surprise attacks in other theatres and on other fronts.
Could the current attack on Iran have begun without the preceding events of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the two wars in the Persian Gulf against Iraq[2], the ‘Arab Spring’, the dissolution of Yemen, Libya and Syria, the protracted genocide in Palestine and the attacks on Lebanon, Hezbollah and the ‘Axis of Resistance’ as a whole?
This context also includes repeated attempts to undermine and dismantle the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), including Argentina’s withdrawal and Brazil’s temporary retreat (under Bolsonaro) and subsequent return (under Lula), as well as the instrumentalisation of India as a ‘weak link’, with Modi’s infamous official visit to Israel (which ‘coincided’ with the Taliban-Pakistan conflict in Afghanistan) literally on the eve of the attack on Iran.
Here, the axis exploits the most primitive Islamophobic tendencies of the Indian capitalist oligarchy, combined with the painful legacy of British colonialism’s artificial creation of states (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with Kashmir as the ‘apple of discord’ and potential trigger for a massive ‘destabilising arc’). Around 250 million Muslims live in India.
The Indian ruling class was therefore called upon by the axis powers to provoke this war by leveraging their diplomatic and economic influence over the Taliban, in order to divert Pakistan’s attention and forces from the planned attack on Iran. Furthermore, Pakistan, an Islamic nuclear power, is the key gateway for the Belt and Road Initiative, a highly important programme for mutually beneficial cooperation and international infrastructure within the global supply chain being created by China. This initiative offers an alternative to projects controlled by the axis. A key strategic objective of the axis is to undermine and defeat the People’s Republic of China.
Pakistan, for its part, has historically been a web of contradictions and a focal point of international conflict. Alongside Saudi Arabia, it played a decisive role in the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. It has developed relations with the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran, including in the field of missile technology. Following a U.S.-backed coup in April 2022, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, who was aligned with BRICS, was ousted. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and armed forces are heavily infiltrated by the CIA and MI6. At the same time, however, Pakistan cannot survive without China.
The Iranians were deceived for a second time and drawn into diversionary negotiations by the US, which served as a pretext for the treacherous and murderous attack by the US-Zionist alliance against them. Similarly, the Russians―with their own share of responsibility―were deceived and drawn into the infamous and pretextual Minsk 1 (September 2014) and Minsk 2 (February 2015) agreements by the US, NATO and the EU, ostensibly to end the war in the Donbass region. In reality, as the leaders of the imperialist states cynically admitted, they aimed to deceive the Russians in order to allow the axis powers to heavily arm the Nazi regime in Kiev.
On 28 February 2026, the most aggressive circles of the financial oligarchy set in motion the war machine of the US and the Zionist entity―the proxy state of Israel, to launch coordinated military strikes against Iran, initiating a major armed conflict.
With this attack, the escalation of WWIII is not merely linear, quantitative, or extensive. It is a qualitative and fundamental escalation. Never before in history has such a significant force of the US war machine, including its navy and air force and the dozens of bases and infrastructure located in strategically important satellite countries, been struck. Never before has the Zionist entity suffered blows of such large scale and strategic importance. For the first time, we have witnessed such a massive retaliatory strike against the vanguard, advanced infrastructure and power projection outposts of the axis.
A major lesson drawn from the axis’ latest attack on Iran is the following: this imperialist aggression did not just encounter serious resistance, but also suffered humiliating blows resulting from a systematic and effective counterattack. For the first time in WWIII, we also have the establishment of ‘red lines’ that are not softened or gradually abandoned through concessions under pressure from the aggressor, but rather adhered to in a coordinated, planned and decisive manner by the counterattacking defenders.
This is a clear demonstration that an anti-imperialist revolution that won against a monarcho-fascist puppet regime, a revolution that enjoys deep rooted popular support, displays remarkable vitality, dignity and effectiveness in confronting the superior forces of the insidious invader. This has been proven despite the ravages of time, the unrelenting external economic and military pressure and the inevitable corruption and bureaucratisation of any revolutionary process that crystallises into a state formation. Iran has shown that it has backbone, guts and principles, and the will to fight back. This is tremendously encouraging. Even if the war were to freeze in place today, Iran would already have won. What Iran and the Axis of Resistance have achieved so far is a victory; a brilliant victory for the global anti-imperialist movement.
In any armed conflict (war, uprising, revolution), success hinges on clearly defining the strategic objective and the corresponding tactical means and ways for achieving victory, as well as firmly assuming strategic initiative with unwavering determination.
The aggressor axis is suffering, among other things, from a lack of strategic purpose in this operation. This embarrassing deficiency is evident in the repeated and erratic rhetorical evasions of Trump and other leaders. This is the second time that the doctrine of betting on the spectacular collapse of a country’s system through the decapitation of its leadership has proven utterly ineffective, following the mafia-style kidnapping of Maduro. This is especially true when imperialist adventurism is directed against a people with a unique history and profound culture.
Despite Iran’s leadership having institutionally and morally renounced the prospect of acquiring nuclear technology for military purposes, the effectiveness of its armed forces’ defence and counterattacks using conventional weapons demonstrates an extremely high level of scientific, technological and industrial development. This is particularly evident in the fields of radio detection and electronic warfare, aerospace, missile technology, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Iran possesses a variety of liquid―and solid―fuelled missile systems, including ballistic and sub-ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles, as well as a multitude of submunitions and multiple independent precision-guided warheads.
The expansion and deepening of the theatre of operations is unprecedented. Iran exclusively controls the Strait of Hormuz, a fact with enormous implications for the global economy, as well as for energy and food security. The reactivation of the Axis of Resistance in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen is also notable. Ansar Allah (referred to by Western media in a racist contemptuous way as the ‘Houthis’), who are fighting against the instruments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen, have the ability to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Arabian Sea with the Red Sea and is of strategic importance for global shipping.
The loss of extremely expensive, strategically vital and, in the medium term, irreplaceable systems and infrastructure signals the humiliation of an enemy seeking global domination. Forcing the enemy’s aircraft carriers and escort ships to flee, destroying their strategic-range and critical radio-location systems and bases, as well as their extremely expensive Airborne Early Warning & Control and aerial refuelling aircraft, depleting their extremely expensive anti-aircraft and anti-missile ammunition, and significantly neutralising and destroying them, all attest to Iran’s gradual but steady assumption of strategic initiative in the conflict.
Israel’s geographically limited habitable land area and the spatially concentrated distribution of its energy infrastructure, transportation hubs and industry (primarily missile, chemical and nuclear industries, as well as the military–industrial complex, which is closely linked to that of the US) make the consequences of Iran’s increasingly more precise and destructive missile strikes terrifying. This intensifies the existential anxiety of the Israeli oligarchy, as it is highly likely that its territory could become uninhabitable due to a potential major ecological disaster resulting from the release of chemical, radiological and other pollutants.
The Iranian people’s response to the imperialist attack thus far constitutes a proud victory for anti-imperialism. However, it also reveals structural weaknesses within the socialist and anti-imperialist pole. Failure to overcome these weaknesses in a timely manner could be disastrous. Unfortunately, this pole is far from being a coherent entity, both at the level of a coalition of states and at the level of a global movement. The qualitative and substantial escalation of WWIII highlights this inadequacy, which borders on self-sabotage when it is reduced to abstract diplomatic declarations and ambivalent or even divisive stances and practices. A notable example of this is India’s leadership, which, after embracing the Zionist entity, swiftly condemned Iran for its alleged aggression against regional countries (i.e. U.S.-Israeli outposts and bases). At the same time, if not having providing the U.S. with coordinates for the sinking of the unarmed Iranian frigate IRIS Dena following an official visit to India (with a crew consisting mainly of cadets from the Iranian Naval Academy) it did not respond to this barbaric and treacherous act. This, at the very least, constitutes an amoral stance. At the same time, the Indian leadership co-signed a resolution by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation condemning the US attack on Iran. Afterwards, India negotiated free passage for Indian-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Similarly, a leading segment of Russia’s capitalist oligarchy has not only cosied up to the US leadership and Trumpism, hoping for at least a partial easing of sanctions, but has also sent a delegation of Russian lawmakers to the US, reinforcing scenarios of Russia aligning with the US against China, the DPRK, etc. At the same time, top circles of Russia’s political leadership and ideological apparatus are openly boasting about the profits their capitalist oligarchy is making from rising hydrocarbon prices caused by imperialist attacks in the Caribbean and the Persian Gulf. The Russian oligarchy is displaying a similarly ambivalent stance towards the Zionist entity, citing the large proportion of Russian and Russian-speaking citizens within it, as well as the dual or exclusive citizenship of a significant portion of the oligarchy and its business operations in Israel.
The most aggressive circles of the global financial oligarchy are organically linked to the racist and colonialist ideology and practice of Zionism for historical reasons, and are capable of instrumentalising states, transnational institutions and political personnel for their interests. From this perspective, the question of who is leading whom in this war (the U.S. leading Israel, or vice versa) is a false dilemma.
Furthermore, the Epstein scandal has significant ethical and political implications. It has revealed: 1. the extent of the involvement of the Israeli intelligence and foreign espionage agency (Mossad), as well as other intelligence agencies, in a transnational, para-state network of human trafficking and extreme corruption involving the global ‘elite’. This network also functions as a mechanism for blackmailing, manipulating, and controlling individuals and groups, as well as 2. the extent of exploitation and abuse, including ritual cannibalism, to satisfy the most eccentric and perverse appetites of a global ‘elite’ who are ruthless even in the face of the most heinous crimes. This is all due to a complete absence of oversight and accountability, resulting in a regime of total impunity.
The representatives of this oligarchy—this self-proclaimed ‘elite’ who regard the criminal abuse and ritual murder of women and children as the norm—have not the slightest hesitation regarding war crimes, genocide or the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons if conventional weapons prove ineffective in their aggression.
The targeting of 170 girls at an elementary school in Minab with two precision-guided ‘Tomahawk’ missiles (a double-tap strike, with the second attack coming one hour later to target paramedics, parents and teachers gathered at the scene) from the very first day of the attack was a symbolic, ritualistic act of blackmail against the Iranian people, in the spirit of this perverse impunity. They are specifically targeting educational institutions, healthcare facilities, public services and cultural heritage sites! Imperialism strikes with fury at universities, research centres, scientists, researchers, teachers, students, the academic and scientific community. As if they wanted to take revenge on the vital forces of knowledge and conscience that have enabled the Iranian people to stand tall with dignity and achieve true, not spurious, emancipation for women, motherhood and children. These forces have also enabled the creation of technological achievements such as satellites, medical technologies and hypersonic missiles. Despite talent-scouting across the globe, the US has still not managed to match these achievements.
From this perspective, the effective counterattack against the axis oligarchy also takes on a symbolic, moral, and aesthetic dimension of nemesis and catharsis in the name of the people and humanity against the unprecedented scale and perversion of the capitalist oligarchy’s hubris.
The ground trembles beneath the feet of the occupiers at the 800 US bases in 80 countries from the moment revolutionary, anti-imperialist Iran reminded us of the obvious fact: no people who host foreign bases and armies on their soil can be considered sovereign. Furthermore, if a country allows its territory to be used to launch an attack on another country, it becomes an accomplice to the crime and is therefore justifiably targeted in self-defence!
The goals of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform are becoming increasingly urgent in light of the new escalation of WWIII. The scientific, theoretical and practical organisational foundation for forming an anti-imperialist movement on national, international and global scale is an indispensable condition for humanity’s survival and our urgent revolutionary and humanitarian duty!
The martyrs and heroes of the anti-imperialist struggle in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and around the world are calling to us!
IMMEDIATE EXIT FROM EU-NATO!
CLOSE THE US-NATO BASES AND KICK OUT THE OCCUPATION TROOPS!
CRUSH THE US-NATO-EU-ZIONIST AXIS IN IRAN & ALL FRONTS
VICTORY FOR THE FORCES OF SOCIALISM AND ANTIIMPERIALISM!
UNITY WITH THE GOALS OF THE FRONTAL STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLES’ HOPE, THE WORLD ANTIIMPERIALIST PLATFORM!
Notes
[1] See for example Patelis D. Changes in strategy or adjustments to imperialism’s tactics in World War III? Platform No.32 January 2026
[2] The First Gulf War (1990-1991) was an armed conflict in which a coalition of 34-42 countries led by the United States and acting under a UN mandate ‘liberated Kuwait following Iraq’s invasion’. It began with Operation Desert Shield, and escalated into Operation Desert Storm, which involved the destruction of Iraqi infrastructure. The war formally ended in 1991. The Second Gulf War, also known as the Iraq War, began in 2003 without a UN resolution. It was an invasion led by the US and a coalition of 40 countries as part of the broader ‘war on terror’, which overthrew Saddam Hussein’s regime. The U.S. justified Operation Iraqi Freedom on the grounds of alleged weapons of mass destruction, leading to a prolonged occupation and instability in the region.
