This Historian Predicted Trump's US-Iran Conflict In 2024 And His Theories About WWIII Are Chilling

For decades, the United States has been embroiled in conflict in the Middle East. Though things had quieted down in recent years, that all changed on June 21, 2025, when America dropped bombs on three Iranian nuclear sites in a mission dubbed "Operation Midnight Hammer." The bombing came in the midst of ongoing fighting between Israel and Iran. The U.S., which is sympathetic to Israel, cited its reason for getting involved as an effort to demolish Iran's nuclear capabilities. 

The New York Times reported on June 24 that the bombing did not do as much damage as the Trump administration claimed, only setting back Iran's ability to create a nuclear bomb by a matter of months. Yet the United States president said at a press conference that the targets were "hit brutally ... it was obliteration," via Daily Beast. With uncertainties abounding, a historian who posted a video on YouTube in May 2024 went viral after the bombing due to his predictions coming to fruition. He also has more to say on how this conflict may play out. 

Beijing-based Jiang Xueqin is a historian, an educator, a writer, and a high school teacher. His YouTube channel, Predictive History, looks into "psycho-history," or the idea that by studying humanity's past, we may be able to understand our present and therefore make educated predictions about how things will play out. Here's what Xueqin has to say about the U.S.-Iran conflict and its implications for a possible World War III. 

Jiang Xueqin's approach to his predictions uses game theory, which includes looking at how each player views themselves and their roles in the world, what each is trying to accomplish (or their ultimate goals), and what their strategy may be to reach said goals. In this case, we're talking about the U.S., Iran, and Israel. Xueqin posted a YouTube video on June 22, the day after his 2024 prediction that the U.S. would bomb Iran with the justification of preventing them from having a nuclear bomb came to fruition. In the video, he says if American troops hit the ground, the American Empire will ultimately fall in something like a domino effect, and the long-dominant nation will descend into civil war. 

Xueqin claimed that's not necessarily a bad thing for Donald Trump, because his ultimate goal is "destroying the global elite," who he feels stole the 2020 election from him, and maintaining power by securing a third term (nevermind that he'll be 82 when his current term is over). According to the historian, Israel wants to be top dog in the Middle East, and it wants to see the U.S. and Iran entangled in an ongoing war that depletes both nations' military might. What Iran hopes to get out of the situation is all Muslims ultimately rallying around them, making them the leaders of the Muslim world. Both Iran and Israel want the U.S. presence out of the Middle East. Xueqin sees sending in ground troops as the move that will bring the U.S. to its knees because he says they'd end up trapped, which would send things spiraling in the land of the free, home of the brave. 

Jiang Xueqin believes that Iran sees the war as an opportunity to slowly pull the U.S. in, "forcing Americans into a quagmire." "Supply issues in Iran will be a huge problem for the American military," he predicted. "They can get in, but it will be very hard for them to get out." Since the U.S. sees itself as the dominant force, Iran understands it can use that to its advantage by forcing retaliation even against the U.S.'s own interest, ratcheting it up until the only thing left to do is send in troops. That, Xueqin said, will cause civil unrest at home. 

"The moment that Americans start dying in the Middle East, the moment that they institute a draft, it will create chaos in America," Xueqin said. "People are going to protest, people are going to revolt."  But things would already be past the point of no return regarding the war, he explained. Jiang predicted that the divisiveness in the U.S. will come to a head, with some championing the old guard of the American Empire and others siding with President Donald Trump's America First, which will lead to a civil war. That would play out well for Trump, Jiang claimed, because, with an "unwinnable war" in Iran and a civil war at home, he may have enough support to get that third term. 

Meanwhile, Xueqin thinks the Muslim nations will rally behind Iran as Israel becomes the hegemonic leader in the Middle East. That, he believes, is part of the "fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy" in which the players in this game — especially Israel and the Muslim nations. Being deeply steeped in their religious beliefs, they will view the fighting as "the end of the world, and that's why this war is so scary for all of us."