Kyiv and Tel Aviv's Sedition on the Eve of World War III

TEHRAN (Defapress) - Zelensky's global ambitions have long been clear to all, and the longer the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, the more his delusions of grandeur come into focus. His fixed idea is to convince the world that the Russian threat is permanent and all-encompassing, ultimately aiming to form a unified front against Russia. It is evident that Zelensky merely echoes the perennial rhetoric of Western Russophobes. However, when military provocations and practical efforts to expand the conflict on a global scale appear on his agenda, it becomes apparent that this former comedian lacks any ethical red lines.

Ukraine's attack on an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea, which resulted in the martyrdom of an Iranian sailor, coincided with Zelensky's claims that North Korea was preparing to deploy 30,000 troops to the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war. Although North Korean forces did participate in combat during the first half of 2025, their numbers barely exceeded ten thousand. More importantly, these troops were involved only in the liberation of the Kursk region and played no role in the offensive operations of the Russian army. In the current dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there is no rationale for North Korean military involvement. Yet Zelensky is attempting to magnify North Korea's role to frighten Japan and South Korea, thereby extracting weapons and financial aid from them. Zelensky reasons that if South Korea is becoming a key arms supplier to European NATO countries, why should it not send military assistance directly to Ukraine?

However, this clamor appears to have had little effect on Seoul and Tokyo, and has not persuaded them to enter the dangerous game of the Kyiv regime out of fear of an illusory North Korean threat. Even South Korean military experts have assessed Zelensky's statements as yet another attempt to secure more military and financial aid from Europe and South Korea. They emphasized that there is no verified information from independent sources regarding an imminent deployment of Pyongyang's troops to the Ukraine-Russia war. Even if North Korean soldiers were to be redeployed to Russia, they would serve only in an advisory capacity, well away from the front lines.

Despite the failure of this media spectacle to sway officials and publics in Seoul and Tokyo, Zelensky continues to insist on the presence of North Korean troops at the front, repeatedly claiming that Kyiv's forces have engaged Pyongyang's soldiers in combat. Zelensky's primary goal in repeating this allegation is to demonstrate his alleged leverage to the United States. On the eve of his visit to Washington, he wanted to showcase his global stature to the U.S., presenting himself with confidence as someone responsible for the security of East Asia as well. Through his attack on the Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea, he also made a desperate attempt to link his war with Russia to Iran's regional conflict.

Tehran compared this act to the actions of "European anarchists on the eve of World War I who staged dramatic and extraordinarily dangerous moves that had consequences affecting all of Europe," likening Zelensky to "Gavrilo Princip," who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo in 1914. Despite personality differences, the underlying motives of these two figures are remarkably similar; in both cases, the primary objective was to draw Europe into war. Today's Europe has been indirectly participating in the war against Russia and, by any means possible, avoids involvement in Iran's regional conflict. The United States, too, is trying to extricate itself from a war that is deeply detrimental to its interests, but Israel is making every effort to persuade Trump to resume and even expand military operations, potentially to the point of a ground invasion. If America and Europe resist escalation, then something must be done to make them realize that Iran poses a major threat to their security; Zelensky, following precisely this scheme, attacked the Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea to provoke Iran and compel it to launch missile strikes against Europe.

Despite being deeply infuriated by Zelensky's cowardly act, and while weighing the option of striking Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, Iran refrained from doing so. It did not wish to play into the hands of the Kyiv regime and allow itself to be perceived as a major threat to European national security. In this context, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi explicitly stated that Zelensky was acting on Israeli orders to drag Europe into war. To neutralize Ukraine's scheme, Iran pretended to accept Ukraine's claim that the attack was unintentional, even though Kyiv continues to insist that the Iranian ship was carrying military cargo to Russia and therefore constituted a "legitimate target." Even Kaja Kallas urged Iran to halt its shipments of military supplies to Russia, issuing a very vague statement about "Ukraine's right to self-defense."

Zelensky's mischief did not succeed this time, but his playing with fire is becoming increasingly dangerous. His intensified efforts to link the two ongoing wars in Asia and Europe suggest something beyond mere madness. Benjamin Netanyahu is yet another madman on the global stage, seeking to exploit Trump's character weaknesses to drag him into an endless war for Tel Aviv's benefit. If these two "actors" are trying to strike a match over the world's powder keg, it is the world's duty to stop them, lest it later be forced to endure a situation reminiscent of 1914, when almost none of the world's leaders believed, until the very last moment, that a full-scale war would actually occur.