By Pablo Ruiz*

In January 2026, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stated that we are 85 seconds away from midnight—or the “Doomsday Clock”—due to the threats of nuclear war and climate change.

As the war—which resumed in late February against the Islamic Republic of Iran—intensifies, with new attacks carried out by the United States and Israel against Tehran, we must once again raise the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in this conflict, in a context where international law, the UN, are at an impasse, and where the nations of the world, represented in various international organizations, lack the capacity to stop the US or Israel from committing so many crimes and violations of international law and the very Charter of the United Nations signed on June 26, 1945, in the city of San Francisco, in the United States itself.

The attack on Venezuela last January, and now on Iran—with the assassination of its religious leader and officials, and even the Tomahawk missile strike on the elementary school in Minab that killed young female students—shows that the U.S. and Israel are willing to do anything to secure hegemony over the Middle East and the world itself. They are willing to kidnap and assassinate presidents, religious leaders, and children without any remorse.

The new offensive against Iran, which uses the same pretext that was employed to attack Iraq in the past, is based on the alleged development of “weapons of mass destruction.” However, Iranian authorities have categorically denied this possibility, which is consistent with the commitment Iran made when it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Likewise, the justifications put forward by the U.S. and Israel are cynical and contradictory because these two states do possess atomic bombs—and, moreover, the United States has used them, weapons of mass destruction, not against military targets but against the entire civilian population in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They have no justification; they are once again violating international law.

Recently, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. military could “wipe out” Iran in a matter of an hour if it wanted to, hinting at the possibility of a nuclear strike. “We could do something much worse to them. They would literally never be able to rebuild that country,” he told the press.

Let us recall that Article 2 of the UN Charter expressly states that Member States must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State. Article 51 recognizes the right to self-defense, individually or collectively, but only in the event of an armed attack against a State.

Setbacks and Threats

The current situation is alarming; there are clear intentions on the part of the United States to move toward a larger-scale war for total control of the world. The attack on Venezuela, the energy blockade against Cuba, and now the renewed offensive against Iran are the prelude—as the U.S. seeks to control oil—to a war with China, which is vying to become, if it is not already, the world’s leading economy.

The risk of nuclear weapons being used, however, has once again become a real possibility in recent years. Throughout 2025, the world remained in serious danger of nuclear weapons being used, both in the conflict between Israel and Iran (the 12-day war) and between Russia and Ukraine due to the escalation of the war. It is evident that a war involving countries with nuclear capabilities poses an existential threat to all of humanity given the possibility of nuclear weapons being used.

The current situation—marked by open or hybrid wars—that humanity is facing is devastating and alarming. A single mistake, a misguided attack, could trigger Armageddon, the apocalypse of the entire human race.

Some facts:

In 2025, the United States transferred B-61 nuclear weapons to Lakenhead in the United Kingdom, thereby strengthening U.S. nuclear capabilities in Europe. In addition, the United States has nuclear weapons stationed in five countries: Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Germany.

Similarly, the architecture for nuclear arms control and reduction is at its most critical juncture: In 2002, the U.S. withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM); in 2018, from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran (JCPOA); in 2019, from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF); in 2020, from the Open Skies Treaty; and this year, 2026, the United States did not renew the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 3) with the Russian Federation. All of this represents a clear setback in terms of confidence-building, reduction, and control of existing nuclear weapons.

President Donald Trump also ordered the resumption of nuclear weapons testing. According to the 2025 Report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the United States allocated $997 billion for military spending during that period. “A significant portion of the U.S. budget was allocated to modernizing its military capabilities and nuclear arsenal, with the aim of maintaining a strategic advantage over Russia and China.” European NATO members had a combined military expenditure of $454 billion; China, $314 billion; Russia, $149 billion.

In Europe, too, authorities are using rhetoric about the possibility of a war with Russia in the coming years as an argument to justify increasing military spending to 5% of NATO member countries’ GDP. In this vein, several governments are distributing informational materials preparing the European population for both natural disasters and the eventuality of a nuclear attack. Yes, they are preparing for a nuclear attack.

In January 2026, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stated that we are 85 seconds away from midnight—or the Doomsday Clock—due to the threats of nuclear war and climate change. Previously, in 2025, they rightly pointed out that the U.S., Russia, and China “have the primary responsibility to save the world from the abyss, and they can do so if their leaders initiate serious, good-faith talks about the global threats described here.”

The matter is serious and transcends any ideology, religion, or differences; all countries, their governments, and people—rich and poor alike—must make efforts to ensure that reason, diplomacy, negotiations, world peace, and the respect we all have for our continued existence prevail.

* Pablo Ruiz is a journalist and a member of the Observatory for the Closure of the School of the Americas in Chile (an organization affiliated with World BEYOND War and the International Peace Bureau). He is the editor of the magazine El Derecho de Vivir en Paz (The Right to Live in Peace) www.derechoalapaz.org

https://www.derechoalapaz.com/the-world-is-closer-to-armageddon/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the No to War – No to NATO