It's not in Russia's interest to make this WW III, and China's not into it - they want Taiwan but not, I don't think, a larger war. Iran's not able to turn this into a bigger conflict, economically, though they could do a lot of economic harm via the Straits.
I just don't see a short-term path to WW III here, and I don't see how it affects any of the medium-term paths enough to change things very much. (Obviously, it drives Iran closer to Russia, but, well, that's not new now is it.)
Re: "I don’t think it’s World War III...so don't make it into one."
I just don't see a short-term path to WW III here, and I don't see how it affects any of the medium-term paths enough to change things very much. (Obviously, it drives Iran closer to Russia, but, well, that's not new now is it.)