Top 10 countries at war with the strongest militaries in 2025, as people discuss World War 3
Given the recent conflict between the United States and Iran, it is reasonable to conclude that global tensions have not been this high in recent years.
This conflict, along with the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the Sudan and South Sudan wars, has resulted in immense humanitarian crises and international tensions unprecedented in decades.
Sudan's civil war, which began in 2023 with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is still ongoing. Khartoum, Sudan's capital, remains a war.
Civilians are trapped in the crossfire, starvation is looming, and ethnic violence in Darfur has risen to atrocity levels.
On the other side of the world, tensions between the United States and Iran reached a point of open warfare in June 2025. The immediate catalyst was a joint Israeli-American bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
Similarly, the Gaza Strip, located in the continent of Asia, has all year long been a combat zone following a violent escalation between Israel and Hamas. The conflict has damaged residential neighborhoods and sparked concerns about regional spillover, particularly with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranian participation.
On the Eastern side of Asia, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has entered its fourth year.
The conflict has transitioned from fast territory acquisition to attritional battle along entrenched front lines.
Ukraine, supported by Western nations with military and economic backing, has put up a strong fight.
However, Russia has taken advantage of its large military stockpiles, nuclear deterrent, and increased armaments manufacturing.
These conflicts, coupled with the fragile peace between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces, Nigeria's war on terrorism, control of armed gangs in Haiti, insurgencies in the Sahel region, and tension between India and Pakistan, among other regional conflicts raises the question of which armies are well equipped to deal with further escaltions, especially considering that there has been talks of World War 3.
With that said, here are the 10 strongest countries currently involved in some form of conflict in 2025, as per GlobalFirepower.
Countries selected, save for the United States and Iran, were determined by the casualties listed on Datapanda for 2025.
Top 10 countries at war with the strongest militaries in 2025, as people discuss World War 3
Rank Country Military strength Global rank Number of recorded casualties from January 2025 to May
1. United States 0.0744 1st -
2. Russia 0.0788 2nd 187
3. China 0.0788 3rd 8
4. India 0.1184 4th 1,130
5. Pakistan 0.2513 12th 2,169
6. Israel 0.2661 15th 1,425
7. Iran 0.3048 16th -
8. Ukraine 0.3755 20th 29,347
9. Algeria 0.3589 26th 13
10. Nigeria 0.5771 31st 8,017
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
34 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Stock Movers: Exxon, Lockheed, Fiserv
On this episode of Stock Movers: - ExxonMobil (XOM) is lower this morning along with other major oil giants like Chevron (CVX) as the US, Israel, and Iran work toward a truce. President Trump called on Israel to stop dropping bombs on Iran, calling it a 'major violation' of a fragile ceasefire between the two countries he announced just hours beforehand. Moments earlier, Trump told reporters he believed both Israel and Iran had violated the ceasefire but said he believed the fragile truce which was already being tested would hold. - Newmont Corp. (NEM) is following oil lower as commodities drop on news of a truce. 'I think they both violated it,' Trump said as he departed the White House to attend the NATO summit at The Hague. But when asked if the ceasefire was breaking, Trump responded 'I don't think so.' - Lockheed Martin (LMT) is down today following commodity stocks lower. The fragile truce followed an extraordinary night in which Tehran retaliated against a US attack by launching missiles at an American air base in Qatar, with no casualties reported. - Fiserv (FI) shares are higher this morning after Mastercard deepened its partnership with Fiserv to integrate its new FIUSD token across a range of Mastercard products and services, expanding stablecoin adoption and utility for their shared customers around the world. Mastercard says people and businesses can use the new, programmable, blockchain-based token across more than 150 million merchants.
Chicago Tribune
36 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
President Donald Trump says both Iran and Israel violated a ceasefire
BEERSHEBA, Israel — A tentative truce faltered Tuesday when Israel accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the ceasefire was supposed to take effect and vowed to retaliate. Iran's military denied firing on Israel, state media reported — but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel midmorning, and an Israeli military official said two Iranian missiles were intercepted. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for the NATO summit at The Hague that in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement he had announced earlier. 'They violated it but Israel violated it too,' Trump said. 'I'm not happy with Israel.' On social media, he called on Israel to stop dropping bombs and bring its pilots home. The conflict, now in its 12th day, began with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons — and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. Iran has long maintained that its program is peaceful. Many worried the war might widen after the U.S. joined the attacks by dropping bunker-buster bombs over the weekend and Israel expanded the kinds of targets it was hitting. But after Tehran launched a limited retaliatory strike on a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday, Trump announced the ceasefire. Both sides accepted the agreement, but it is now unclear if it will hold. 'Tehran will tremble,' Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich warned on X, raising the specter that the war might continue. An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations said Iran launched two missiles at Israel hours into the tenuous ceasefire. Both were intercepted, the official said. Iranian state television reported that the military denied firing missiles after the start of the ceasefire — while accusing Israel of conducting strikes. It offered no evidence to support the claim of Israeli fire, with the last reports of such attacks coming before dawn. Part of the difficulty in sorting out the competing claims was that Trump's social media post announcing the ceasefire said Iran would begin holding its fire hours earlier than Israel. He later, however, announced that the ceasefire was in effect, even though the window he initially gave for Israel had not yet closed. After accusing Iran of violating the ceasefire, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed Israel's military to resume 'the intense operations to attack Tehran and to destroy targets of the regime and terror infrastructure.' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran in coordination with Trump, while pledging to respond to any subsequent violation. He said that Israel had achieved all of its war goals, including removing the threat of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. An announcement on Iranian state TV later said the ceasefire was in effect. So did Trump, who posted: 'THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country would not fire at Israel if it was not fired upon, but that a 'final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.' To secure the ceasefire, Trump had communicated directly with Netanyahu, according to a senior White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the Monday talks. Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff communicated with the Iranians through direct and indirect channels. The White House has maintained that the U.S. bombing helped get the Israelis to agree to the ceasefire and that the Qatari government helped to broker the deal. It's unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender. The shaky ceasefire came after hostilities spread further across the region. Israel's military said Iran launched 20 missiles toward Israel before the ceasefire began on Tuesday morning. Police said they damaged at least three densely packed residential buildings in the city of Beersheba. First responders said they retrieved four bodies from one building and were searching for more. Earlier, the Fire and Rescue service said five bodies were found before revising the number downward. At least 20 people were injured. Outside, the shells of burned out cars littered the streets. Broken glass and rubble covered the area. Police said some people were injured while inside their apartments' reinforced safe rooms, which are meant to withstand rockets but not direct hits from ballistic missiles. Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a U.S. military base in Qatar, retaliating for earlier American bombing of its nuclear sites. The U.S. was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties. Drones attacked military bases in Iraq overnight, including some housing U.S. troops, the Iraqi army and a US military official said Tuesday. A senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said U.S. forces had shot down drones attacking Ain al-Assad in the desert in western Iraq and at a base next to the Baghdad airport, while another one crashed. No casualties were reported and no group claimed responsibility for the attacks in Iraq. Some Iran-backed Iraqi militias had previously threatened to target U.S. bases if the U.S. attacked Iran. In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974 people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel. The U.S. has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their immediate family members from Israel by government, military and charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department official said. There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.
New York Times
38 minutes ago
- New York Times
Live Updates: Trump Lashes Out at Israel and Iran as Fragile Truce Is Tested
Pinned President Trump lashed out at Israel and Iran on Tuesday over concerns that both sides had violated an hours-old cease-fire, intensifying the uncertainty over the fragile deal that he had helped broker to end the deadly conflict. In expletive-laced remarks to reporters, Mr. Trump accused both sides of launching attacks, pledging to 'see if I can stop it.' In a Truth Social post, the president warned Israel not to 'drop those bombs' and demanded the country 'bring your pilots home now.' It was unclear whether either side had breached the cease-fire. Israel's military accused Tehran of firing missiles after the deal went into effect on Tuesday and vowed to retaliate. Iran's military denied doing so, according to Iranian state news outlets. The agreement, if it holds, would end 12 days of unprecedented warfare between Iran and Israel that also brought in the United States, as Mr. Trump ordered U.S. forces to bomb Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran responded by firing missiles at a key U.S. base in Qatar. Mr. Trump spoke to reporters before departing for a NATO summit in the Netherlands. His announcement of a cease-fire on Monday evening had caught some of his own officials by surprise. In the last moment before the cease-fire was meant to take effect, both sides continued to trade fire. The Israeli military said it had struck missile launchers in western Iran that were poised to fire at Israel. Iran launched at least four barrages of ballistic missiles at Israel, setting off sirens that sent millions of Israelis rushing in and out of shelters. At least four people were killed when a missile hit an apartment building in the southern city of Beersheba. But by around 7.30 a.m. in Israel, a tentative calm appeared to have taken hold as the military issued an all-clear, allowing people to exit bomb shelters. Soon after, President Trump announced the truce was in force. 'PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!' he added. There was initially silence from the Israeli government, which has in the past often waited in the first, delicate hours before declaring conflicts over. Just after 9 a.m. local time, Israel's government issued a statement saying it had agreed to a mutual cease-fire, having achieved its goals in its campaign in Iran, 'and in full coordination with President Trump.' Iran, similarly, cast the truce as a sign its military had prevailed. But underscoring the fragility of the situation, more sirens wailed in northern Israel nearly two hours later, warning of missiles launched from Iran. The Israeli military accused Iran of breaking the cease-fire — saying in a statement that it would 'respond with force.' Here's what else to know: Global reaction: The cease-fire announcement was welcomed, albeit cautiously, by world leaders. 'If a cease-fire has indeed been achieved, then that can only be welcomed,' said Dmitri S. Peskov, the spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. 'We hope that it will be a sustainable cease-fire.' President Emmanuel Macron of France praised the cease-fire announcement but warned that 'the situation remains volatile and unstable.'
