Stephen Cho | Coordinator of the Korean International Forum
The Iran war is a new flashpoint of the West Asian war. The West Asian war, which was centered on the Palestinian war in October 2023, has entered a new phase with the West Asian war centered on the Iran war in February 2026. Due to the Iran war, the unity of the anti-imperialist camp is being further strengthened, and the division of the imperialist camp is deepening further. The imperialist forces are driving the Iran-centered West Asian war to catalyze the East Asian war centered on the war in Taiwan, the East European war centered on the war in Ukraine, and the Central American war centered on the war in Venezuela. The provocations by imperialism and fascism against anti-imperialist countries—which are trying to prevent the expansion of the West Asian war into the East Asian, East European, and Central American wars—are increasing in intensity day by day.
In May, two successive summits were held in Beijing. The China-US summit and the China-Russia summit, held in the midst of the Iran war and the West Asian war, drew the attention of the entire world at an extraordinary juncture ahead of the full-scale escalation of World War 3. The USA is the representative nation of the imperialist camp, and China and Russia are the representative nations of the anti-imperialist camp. Reaffirming the agreements reached at last year’s BRICS summit, China and Russia agreed to strengthen unity and cooperation in various fields of the anti-imperialist camp. The focus is on the China-US summit. Although the media mainly mentions the exchange of China’s demands―the “3T” (Taiwan, Tariff, and Technology)―and the US demands―the “5B” (Boeing, Beef, Beans, Board of Investment, and Board of Trade)―the possibility of an exchange between intervention of China in the Iran war and non-intervention of the USA in the Taiwan war cannot be denied. The unusual high praise, such as Trump’s “Historic Deal” and Xi Jinping’s “Constructive China-US Relationship of Strategic Stability,” suggests a non-disclosed agreement between the two sides. In fact, Xi Jinping met with Putin shortly thereafter and immediately visited Pyongyang. Xi Jinping’s article contributed to the Rodong Sinmun (The organ of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea) is filled with strategic and far-reaching content aimed beyond the peninsula at the region and the world, including “Post-War International Order,” “Second Centenary Goal,” “New Historical Starting Point,” “Inclusive Economic Globalization,” and “Building a Community with a Shared Future for Humankind.” The USA signed the “Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,” which is favorable to Iran, despite opposition from Israel.
World War 3 is entering a new phase with the potential for a Taiwan-centered East Asian war following the Iran-centered West Asian war. The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding is in jeopardy due to Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon, and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz could be resumed at any moment. If the East Asian war breaks out, it will be recorded in history as the full-scale escalation of World War 3. Furthermore, there is a high possibility that it will expand into the East European war and the Central American war. We must not overlook that, despite Russia’s successive grim warnings, Ukraine’s drone attacks against the Russian heartland are perilously escalating. For Netanyahu and Zelensky, the representative puppets of imperialism, a cessation of war is nothing less than a political death sentence. Imperialism has announced a “Fortress Western Hemisphere” strategy termed “NSS 2025” and “NDS 2026,” and is executing it step by step. It must be viewed that the Iran-centered West Asian war instigated by imperialism inherently possesses the nature of ground-clearing operations to focus on the Western Hemisphere afterward.
The US Republican administration stands at a crossroads between the “lame duck” of defeat or its opposite ahead of the November election. If the current ruling forces cannot quickly end the Iran war and further wrap up the Ukraine war, a crushing defeat in the election is inevitable as a consequence of the price hikes triggered by the surge in oil prices. The reasons are clear why the US government is seeking to lower oil prices by bringing the Iran war to an early end and then drawing Iranian and Russian crude back into the international market, attempting to distribute cash through the populist OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) policy, and clinging to the achievements of China-US summit diplomacy lies nowhere else. The fiscal crisis of a $39 trillion national debt and $1 trillion in annual interest is threatening not just the US dollar hegemony but the US economy itself. This means that the fiat money system—the very foundation of inflation and the debt economy—has encountered its fundamental limit. The contradictions among the political forces locked in a power struggle within the USA, the head of modern imperialism, are increasingly adding to their hostile character and moving toward a fatal stage.
In today’s world, the strategic battle between the imperialist camp provoking World War 3 and the anti-imperialist camp deterring it is sharpening across various regions and fields. The Ukraine war in Eastern Europe, which began with the 2014 “Maidan Coup,” became full-scale with Russia’s special military operation in February 2022, and has since expanded to an irreversible state with the escalation of the West Asian war from the October 2023 Palestinian war to the February 2026 Iran war. Meanwhile, the provocations of a local war against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the military coup attempted between September to November and December 2024 by US imperialism and its fascist puppet, the Yoon Suk-yeol government, were crushed by the DPRK’s war deterrence and “strategic patience,” alongside the heroic struggle of the ‘Republic of Korea (the ‘ROK’)’ people. If a war in the ‘ROK’ had broken out at that time, it would have immediately expanded into the Taiwan war and spread into the East Asian war centered on the war in the ‘ROK.’
The imperialist camp views the East Asian war as essential in elevating World War 3 to a full-scale stage, and is now attempting to ignite the Taiwan-centered East Asian war through the Iran-centered West Asian war. During the 50 days of the Iran war, US imperialism consumed an average of about 50% of each of its advanced conventional weapons, an amount that would take three to four years to replenish. This means that if the Taiwan war or a war in the ‘ROK’ breaks out, there will be a severe shortage of weapons to deploy. As is well known, since China and the DPRK are nuclear missile superpowers armed with hydrogen bombs and hypersonic missiles, the USA cannot properly intervene in the Taiwan war or a war in the ‘ROK’ if it lacks advanced conventional weapons. This explains the reason why the USA, along with the November election, is in a hurry to wrap up the Iran war. The background behind the holding of the US-China summit in Beijing is in the same context.
The strategy of the imperialist aggressive forces is to ignite wars in the four major theaters as soon as possible to bring World War 3 into a full-scale phase. Only when they denounce not only Russia and Iran but also China and the DPRK as a “New Axis of Evil” and create a “New Cold War” structure can they maintain the bloc of imperialism and its follower forces. This is the reason why the anti-imperialist camp must not for a single moment lose its vigilance against the danger of World War 3. The aggressive nature of imperialism does not change until its death.
Facing a perilous international situation where the Ukraine war broke out and could spread into World War 3, the communist and anti-imperialist forces from the world formed the World Anti-imperialist Platform (the Platform) in Paris, France, in October 2022. Since its launch and up to the present July 2026, the Platform has consistently and powerfully pursued its three major goals—the global anti-imperialist struggle, the ideological warfare against opportunism, and the strengthening of the communist movement—by holding more than ten international anti-imperialist conferences.
Today, we face an unprecedented crisis in which the flames of World War 3 instigated by imperialism could spread from Ukraine through West Asia to East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central America. As history proves, as the war situation intensifies, the divisive maneuvers of opportunist forces within the communist camp and the anti-imperialist camp intensify in lockstep. Reviving the historical experience of World War 2, where the global anti-fascist front was formed to annihilate fascism, the anti-imperialist camp is now forming a world anti-imperialist front to lead World War 3 to victory. Ever since its founding, the Platform has consistently placed high importance on the ideological warfare against opportunism, promoting unity within the communist camp and unity within the anti-imperialist camp.
In 2026, the Platform joined the formation of the Sovintern in Moscow, Russia, in April, and actively participated in the international events of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in May. Furthermore, in Nairobi, Kenya, in May, despite the direct fascist suppression by the William Ruto regime, we unflinchingly held an international anti-imperialist conference and carried out vigorous anti-imperialist and anti-fascist actions on the occasion of the Africa–France Summit, holding high the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-fascism along with revolutionary Pan-Africanism. And now, on the occasion of the NATO Summit, the Platform is organizing international anti-imperialist events this July in Istanbul, Türkiye, to form a world anti-imperialist front and wage an anti-imperialist struggle against the imperialist forces instigating World War 3.
Imperialism can never block our path forward. The Platform will surely achieve ultimate victory on the path of the world anti-imperialist front and on the righteous path to overthrow imperialism.