Global conflict levels highest since end of Second World War
Global conflict has risen to the highest level since the end of the Second World War, driven up by spiralling violence in the Middle East and Ukraine.
A total of 59 active conflicts are currently raging in more than 35 countries – the most since 1945 – with 152,000 conflict-related deaths recorded in 2024, according to the 2025 Global Peace Index, an annual report on armed violence.
The report published by the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) captures a world on the brink, with the current unipolar world order in flux.
'We're ushering in a new age,' said Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the IEP.
'The current international order is at a tipping point. The world order is seeing its biggest chance since the Second World War,' he told The Telegraph.
The annual report takes a series of data points and ranks every country by how peaceful they are.
Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Austria and Switzerland topped the table in 2025, while the five least peaceful countries were Russia, Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen.
The UK ranked as the 30th most peaceful, while the US ranked at 128 out of 163 countries.
'A fundamental realignment'
The report's authors also analysed the way in which different countries project influence beyond their borders, and found that the influence of the US, China and Russia on global affairs.
The influence of the US, China and Russia on the world order is waning, according to the report, with mid-level powers becoming more active and influential within their regions due to their rising wealth.
The number of countries wielding significant geopolitical influence beyond their borders has risen to 34, up from just six in the 1970s.
Nations like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, the UAE, Israel, South Africa, Brazil, and Indonesia have emerged as prominent regional powers.
'Middle power nations are rising. They're starting to become more and more active,' said Mr Killelea, adding that the transformation has been driven by intensifying great power competition and unsustainable debt burdens in the world's most fragile states.
'This is leading to a fundamental realignment and a possible tipping point to a new international order, the nature of which still can't be fathomed.'
Wars are becoming more internationalised, with more countries than ever involved in conflicts beyond their borders.
Ukraine and Russia, for example, rely on the support of numerous international allies, while there are also believed to be at least seven countries backing both sides of the civil war raging in Sudan.
Mr Killelea warned that Donald Trump's administration has unsettled the global economy and therefore could lead to an increase in conflict in years to come.
'The Trump administration's decisions have been globally unsettling on the economic outlook now,' he explained.
'As economic output plummets, it is likely to increase global tensions, which will lead to more conflict globally.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
23 minutes ago
- Sky News
Who has been targeted in Israeli strikes on Iran - and what key infrastructure has been hit?
Israel has been targeting specific infrastructure and personnel in Iran since the start of its attacks on 13 June. Israel's president told Sky News that the country's unprecedented attacks, which have killed more than 240 people according to Iranian officials, are necessary because Tehran has been proceeding "dramatically" towards a nuclear bomb. But who and what has been targeted, and what is Israel's strategy? Here is what you need to know. Who has been targeted? High-ranking military leaders Israel hit many of its targets on the first night of the attacks, the most high-profile of them being Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of the armed forces of the Iranian regime. His involvement in the military dated back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel has also killed Hossein Salami, who was the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's primary military force, and Mohammed Kazemi, the intelligence chief of the IRGC. The latter was killed in the Israeli strikes along with his deputy, Hassan Mohaqiq. The strikes also killed Gholam-Ali Rashid, who was head of the IRGC's emergency command headquarters. He was replaced by Ali Shadmani, who was killed days later, with Israel's military claiming a "sudden opportunity" arose to attack him. Nuclear scientists Israel says six top nuclear scientists were among those killed in the initial strikes last week. One of the most high-profile of them was Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, who was head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation from 2011 to 2013 and a member of parliament from 2020 to 2024. Another was Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, who was also a theoretical physicist and president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran. Four other scientists killed in the strikes were Abdolhamid Manouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feghi and Motalibizadeh. What infrastructure has been targeted? Israel has hit military, nuclear, government, oil and gas infrastructure and civilian areas across Iran, including in Tehran, Iran's capital, and other major cities. The nuclear sites targeted so far are Natanz, the country's main uranium enrichment facility located 135 miles southeast of Tehran, the nearby Isfahan nuclear facility and the Fordow uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom. It has been speculated that Fordow will require a 'bunker busting' bomb to cause significant damage. A missile airbase in the western province of Kermanshah operated by the IRGC has also been hit. The attacks also targeted the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran. Many of the high-profile targets were killed in their homes or in meetings. What is Israel's strategy? According to Sky's experts, Israel's intentions appear to be to thwart Iran's nuclear efforts, but also to significantly weaken the regime, in the hope of triggering a regime change in the country. International affairs editor Dominic Waghorn says Israel's destruction of Iran's air defences has left the country's skies vulnerable, and that it has allowed Israeli jets to "destroy target after target with pinpoint accuracy". 3:12 He suggests that in order for the attack to be successful long-term, Israel "must destroy both Iran's ability to develop the bomb, but more importantly, its will to do so" - hence its targeting of both nuclear sites and key personnel. He explains that the Iranian nuclear programme is too far developed to be completely destroyed, and that experts and students there have too much knowledge to rule out the country's ability to build a bomb in the future. "Toppling the regime will be the surest way of achieving Israel's aims if it ushers in a replacement not determined to go nuclear," he says. Israel has also been attacking energy infrastructure, which Waghorn says will be aimed at raising energy prices to spark social unrest and dissent. Defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke says Israel's strategy appears to be similar to the one it used against the Shia political and military faction Hezbollah in Lebanon last year. The Israeli military carried out several cross-border attacks, killing top senior leaders including the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah. 3:47 Comparing that scenario to Israel's attacks on Iran, Prof Clarke said: "In terms of the Israeli attacks, they very much follow what we might call the Hezbollah playbook. "They've attacked fairly specific targets, coupled with a series of assassinations against senior leaders. "They're trying to decapitate the command structure while they attack air defence to open up Iranian air defence and then attack Iran." Trump calls supreme leader 'easy target' as he considers US strike Israeli intelligence correspondent Ronen Bergman has reported that Israel has developed the ability to monitor Iran's top officials "in real time", allowing them to eliminate many of Iran's military and intelligence commanders quickly. But Iran's long-time supreme leader Khamenei is not among the officials killed. In a Truth Social post on 17 June, US president Donald Trump called the 86-year-old an "easy target" but said the US would not kill him - "at least not for now". "But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers," he added. "Our patience is wearing thin." 2:56 The comments came days after reports that Mr Trump rejected a plan proposed by Israel to kill Khamenei, who has led the regime since 1989. Mr Trump has called for Iran's 'unconditional surrender' but it is thought that his administration is keen to keep Israel's operation aimed at targeting the nuclear programme rather than at the regime, with fears over further escalation in the conflict. Before Israel's attack began, the US had been negotiating with Iran over a nuclear deal. Mr Trump is now considering a US strike on Iran, according to multiple current and former administration officials. The president is considering a range of options, including a possible strike, following a meeting with his national security team inside the Situation Room, the officials told Sky's US partner network NBC News. How has Tehran responded? Iran, which has always denied it is planning to make a nuclear bomb, has launched sustained retaliatory strikes against Israel since 13 June. In recent days Iran has shot some 370 missiles and hundreds of drones, with the majority being intercepted by the country's defence systems. The attacks have mainly focused on areas around the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, which are densely populated by civilians. At least 24 people are reported to have been killed in Israel and some 500 people injured.
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Tucker Carlson attacks Ted Cruz in heated interview over senator's apparent lack of Iran knowledge
Tucker Carlson lashed out at Senator Ted Cruz during a fiery grilling over the senator's apparent lack of knowledge about Iran. The exchange erupted during an interview with Cruz on "The Tucker Carlson Show" Tuesday evening. Tensions have been brewing between Iran and the U.S. ever since Israel launched an attack on Tehran's nuclear infrastructure Friday. 'How many people live in Iran, by the way?' the former Fox News host asks. 'I don't know the population at all,' Cruz says. 'You don't know the population you seek to topple?' Carlson probes. Cruz then fires back, asking Carlson whether he also knew Iran's statistics, adding that he doesn't spend his time 'memorizing population tables.' After the clip surfaced, Cruz claimed to have 'called out' Carlson, who 'released a snippet playing a 'gotcha' on the population of Iran.' He added, 'I declined to play that silly game,' and accused Carlson of attacking President Trump. Reports of another explosion in Tehran emerged Wednesday morning as the Israel Defence Forces said it attacked an Iranian centrifuge production site. The strike came as multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News Trump was weighing up joining Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, including Tehran's underground Fordow nuclear site. Despite the pushback, Carlson continued to litigate his case. 'Why is it relevant if it's 90 million, or 80 million, or 100 million – why is that relevant?' Cruz asks Carlson. Meanwhile, videos of people attempting to flee Iran in the hundreds started to surface on social media following Trump's evacuation warning. 'Ok, what's the ethnic mix of Iran?' Carlson asks. 'They are Persians, and predominantly Shia,' he says before Carlson interjects, 'You don't know anything about Iran!' Iran has not conducted a census on language or ethnicity for over three decades – the last time was in 1976 – making it impossible to gauge the country's linguistic and ethnic composition, according to the human rights organization, Minority Rights Group. However, the official language is Persian, and Persian dialects extend to include other language diasporas, such as Azeri, Turkic dialects like Kurdish, Gilaki, and Mazandarani, Luri, Baluchi, Arabic, and other non-Turkic languages, says MRG. Later in the interview, Cruz then made a statement that appeared to take U.S. accountability for the military strikes in Iran. 'We're carrying out military strikes today,' he says. 'You said Israel were [...]' Carlson corrects. 'Right, right, with our help,' Cruz adjusts. Meanwhile, Cruz, who wrote 'Yep, I stand with Trump. Iran can't have a nuclear bomb,' on X Tuesday night, leaped to defend himself following the heated interview. Recently, Carlson made his position on Iran clear after he called out the 'warmongers' in the Trump administration, for calling upon the president to order 'direct US military involvement in a war with Iran.' 'The real divide isn't between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers. Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who's calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter, and Miriam Adelson. At some point, they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now,' Carlson said. His accusations prompted Trump to respond on Truth Social, lambasting him as 'kooky.' Trump's position on Iran and his unwavering support for Israel have sent turmoil into the MAGAverse, with politicians split and rattled over what the president's true priorities are. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump loyalist, signaled her support for the president was wavering when she sided with Carlson in an X post Monday. 'Tucker Carlson is one of my favorite people [...] He unapologetically believes the same things I do [...] And foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction. That's not kooky,' she said.
Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Iran's exiled Crown Prince calls on citizens to rise up and 'reclaim' the country from 'hiding rat' Supreme Leader Khamenei and vows to restore democracy as Israel pounds Tehran
The exiled Crown Prince of Iran has declared that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Islamic Republic 'is collapsing' and has urged citizens and soldiers alike to rise up against the regime. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah to rule before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, has long been a prominent critic of Khamenei and says he wants to replace Iran's clerical rule with a 'national and democratic government'. Now, following days of punishing attacks from Israel that wiped out the upper echelon of Iran's military command, targeted its nuclear facilities and sent Khamenei into hiding, Pahlavi took to social media to issue a rallying cry. 'Khamenei, like a frightened rat, has gone into hiding underground and lost control of the situation,' he declared. 'The regime's apparatus of repression is falling apart. 'All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put an end to this nightmare once and for all. Now is the time to rise - the time to reclaim Iran.' In an emotional message to Iranians at home and abroad, he added: 'Let us all come forward... and bring about the end of this regime. 'A free and flourishing Iran lies ahead of us... We have a plan for Iran's future.' Pahlavi's call for revolution comes as the region teeters on the brink of all-out war. Khamenei on Tuesday declared that Israeli would be shown 'no mercy'. 'In the name of the noble Haidar, the battle begins,' he wrote in Farsi, referring to Ali - whom Shia Muslims consider the first Imam and the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammed. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he wanted Khamenei's 'unconditional surrender' as American air and naval assets descended on the region, raising suspicions that the US military may soon enter the fray. Pahlavi's father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, took power in Iran following a 1953 coup engineered by Britain and the US. Under the Shah's secular and pro-Western rule, Iran experienced a rapid modernisation program financed by oil revenues. Education and healthcare expanded, infrastructure boomed, and Tehran became a showcase capital for Western influence in the Middle East. But the regime's repression, inequality, and reliance on the hated secret police, SAVAK, sowed resentment among Iran's religious and working classes. Mass protests, general strikes, and clashes with security forces destabilised the monarchy throughout 1978 as the cancer-stricken Shah struggled to cling to power. It was then that Pahlavi, aged just 17, left Iran for military flight school in the US, just before his father abandoned the throne for exile in January 1979. The Islamic revolution followed as a coalition of religious clerics, leftist groups and disaffected Iranians tore down the monarchy, overran the US Embassy in Tehran and the swept away of the last vestiges of the American-backed government. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a radical Shia cleric, took charge, denouncing Pahlavi's father as a puppet of the West and positioning Islam as the path to justice and national sovereignty. Among the revolution's foot soldiers was a young cleric named Ali Khamenei. A loyal supporter of Khomeini's vision, he played a key role in consolidating the new regime's power, helping to purge dissent and set up the Islamic Republic's security infrastructure. He would go on to serve as president in the 1980s before being appointed Supreme Leader after Khomeini's death in 1989. Yet after more than four decades of Islamic rule, the Pahlavis and the age of the monarchy have retained their mystique in Iran. Pahlavi's critics associate him with Western meddling in Iranian affairs, while his supporters see him as an antidote to Khamenei's repression. Any American intervention in the Middle East would be 'a recipe for all-out war in the region', Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, told Al Jazeera today. Pahlavi has long campaigned against Khamenei, reminding people that Iran under the Shah was far more socially liberal. 'If you look at the legacy that was left behind by both my father and my grandfather... it contrasts with this archaic, sort of backward, religiously rooted radical system that has been extremely repressive,' Pahlavi said. 'This regime is simply irreformable because the nature of it, its DNA, is such that it cannot,' the exiled prince said. 'People have given up with the idea of reform and they think there has to be fundamental change. Now, how this change can occur is the big question.' Prior to the outbreak of hostilities between Jerusalem and Tehran, he had outlined in previous interviews how he felt a revolution would eventually occur in Iran, even without foreign intervention. Asked how his envisioned revolution could play out, Pahlavi said it would need to begin with labour unions starting a nationwide strike. He said members of the Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organisation established to protect the clerical system, would be assured they wouldn't be 'all hung and shot.' Israel launched its air war, its largest ever on Iran, on Friday after saying it had concluded the Islamic Republic was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon - an accusation that Iran denies. The US has so far only taken indirect actions in the current conflict with Iran, including helping to shoot down missiles fired toward Israel. But Trump has ordered significant air and naval assets to the region, suggesting Washington could be about to enter the conflict. Trump was given three options by advisors about how the should largest military in history should assist Israel in demolishing Iran's nuclear program, according to The New York Times. The first and most basic option was the US providing intelligence and jets for refuelling Israeli airplanes on bombing missions along. The second option included American and Israeli joint strikes on Iran. The most hawkish option provided a plan for a US-led military campaign that included B-1 and B-2 bombers, aircraft carriers and 'cruise missiles launched from submarines,' the Times reported. Meanwhile, Ali Bahreini, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in Geneva, said Iran will continue to respond strongly to Israeli strikes despite Trump's calls for surrender. 'We will not show any reluctance in defending our people, security and land - we will respond seriously and strongly, without restraint,' Bahreini declared. Crown Prince of Iran's call to revolution My fellow countrymen, The Islamic Republic has reached its end and is in the process of collapsing. Khamenei, like a frightened rat, has gone into hiding underground and has lost control of the situation. What has begun is irreversible. The future is bright, and together we will pass through this sharp turn in history. In these difficult days, my heart is with all the defenceless citizens who have been harmed and fallen victim to Khamenei's warmongering and delusions. I have tried to prevent our homeland from being dragged into war. The end of the Islamic Republic is the end of its 46-year war against the Iranian nation. The regime's apparatus of repression is falling apart. All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put an end to this nightmare once and for all. Now is the time to rise, the time to reclaim Iran. Let us all come forward... and bring about the end of this regime. Do not fear the day after the fall of the Islamic Republic. Iran will not descend into civil war or instability. We have a plan for Iran's future and its flourishing. We are prepared for the first hundred days after the fall, for a transition period, and for the establishment of a national and democratic government by the Iranian people and for the Iranian people. To the military, law enforcement, security forces, and state employees - many of whom have been sending me messages - I say: Do not stand against the Iranian people for the sake of a regime whose fall has begun and is inevitable. Do not sacrifice yourself for a decaying regime. By standing with the people, you can save your lives. Play a historic role in the transition from the Islamic Republic. Take part in building the future of Iran. A free and flourishing Iran lies ahead of us. May we be together soon.
