3-15-2026 7:25pm

Is World War III Around the Corner?

Matthew Lisa, Student

February 28th 2026, the day that the U.S. joined together with Israel and bombed Iran,causing mass panic worldwide . This has led to Iran stating that this is a war for them. However, here in the U.S. we can not declare war unless Congress approves it, so technically speaking, the U.S has not declared war on Iran. Only one question stands: Is there a chance for World War III?

As time passes, more and more people in our military are deployed to protect our country from possible retaliation from Iran. As of right now, there are 50,000 troops that have been deployed, Including around 2,500 marines, but most of them are currently still in the Middle East

The start of this war was initially seen as successful for the U.S. Bombs rained down on Tehran (which is the capital of Iran) killing the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on March 1st. As of March 6, 2026, his son Mojtaba Khamenei is the new (Ayatollah)Supreme Leader of Iran.

Earlier, a couple weeks ago, many bombings occurred, across Iranian territory,,including Tabriz, Tehran, Natanz, Isfahan, Yadz, and Minab. These bombing have resulted in more than "4,000-5,000" people in Iran losing their lives, including over 2,000 U.S. military personnel.

According to the CSIS article by Mark F. Cancian and Chris H. Park all of these bombings have cost us around "$11.3 Billion Dollars".

March 1, is when the first bomb landed, destroying a Kharg islands oil rig. After the oil rigs were destroyed, the cost of oil soon rose by about 8%, from $67 to around $72. This has also impacted gas prices, which have gone from $2.94 per gallon up to almost $4.00 per gallon in parts of NH. .

As of March 15, 2026, Donald J. Trump has asked for international support to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so that oil shipments can be received by the U.S. The Strait of Hormuz was closed as to retaliation for the U.S. bombings.

This war is also expected to increase taxes of homeowners. New 10% tariffs have been implemented due to the “trade war”. These trade wars include the one we had with China in which they no longer trade with the U.S. and another with European countries when the U.S. placed a cap on most European goods of about 15% in exchange .Both of these trade wars started late 2025 leading into early 2026.

The new tariffs will add onto the ones that were implemented at the beginning of the year.

All sources used in writing this article include the following:

Paul Adams https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-259820d0-52f5-42b2-af79-bca71d9b0aba

Kaia Hubbard https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iranian-foreign-minister-abbas-araghchi-interview-trump-face-the-nation/

Antonio Pequeño IV https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2026/03/13/thousands-of-marines-and-3-us-warships-deployed-to-the-middle-east-reports-say/.

Jennifer Jacobs https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-intelligence-iran-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khamenei-father-sources-say/(

Leila Gharagozlou https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/14/middleeast/iran-israel-us-mojtaba-supreme-leader.

In Maps: two weeks of attacks across Iran and the Middle East https://bbc.com/news/articles/c4g0pnnj8xyo)

Israeli military says 4,000-5,000 Iranian forces killed in strikes so far https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603135117?source=share-link

Mark F. Cancian and Chris H. Park https://www.csis.org/analysis/iran-war-cost-estimate-update-113-billion-day-6-165-billion-day-12.

Freddie Clayton https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-threatens-strike-oil-facilities-us-hits-military-targets-kharg-is-rcna263453

The Associated Press https://www.npr.org/2026/03/01/nx-s1-5731584/oil-prices-iran-us-israel-attacks-war.