Iran Response

Help bring hope in Israel

Iran has a deep history dating back several millennia. Known in the Bible as Elam and Persia, the Medo-Persian armies overthrew the Babylonian Empire (Dan. 5). God appointed Persia’s King Cyrus (Is. 44:28–45:5) to release the Jewish people from their 70-year Babylonian captivity and to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple (Ezra 1). Fifty years later, Persia’s capital city of Susa was home to (Jewish) Queen Esther (Esther 2-9). The Persian and Jewish people share a rich history.

Fast forward to 1925, Reza Shah Pahlavi, a Shia Muslim, became leader of Persia’s monarchy. Desiring to modernize the country, Reza Shah officially changed the name to Iran (1935) emphasizing their “Aryan” (not Arab) connection. In 1979, during his son’s rule, the Western-friendly monarchy was overthrown by the Iranian Islamic Revolution, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a radical Shia Muslim cleric. 

The Islamic Revolution has been described as anti-progress due to its impact on social freedoms, human rights, and economic development. Chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” have been heard for nearly 50 years.

Iran’s, now late, Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ruled the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1989 to February 2026. A President runs the day-to-day government operations but the Ayatollah is the head of state. Iran’s radical Islamic regime boasts of an end time ideology of global Islamic domination. To date they have successfully squashed all uprisings and attempts for a revolution against the Islamic republic.¹ 

Reza Shah’s grandson, former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, has lived in exile in the US since 1979 and declares his readiness to return to his homeland and lead Iran into a new era of peace. Time will tell if he will be Iran’s next leader. 

The Persian Empire ruled from approximately 550 BCE to 330 BCE. At its height, the empire expanded from India to Ethiopia. Modern-day Iran’s borders lie within the Persian Empire boundaries.

Leaders within both ancient Persia and modern-day Iran have devised genocidal plans for the Jewish people, only to have those efforts divinely thwarted.

Under King Cyrus, the Persians defeated the notorious Babylonian Empire into which the Jewish people had been exiled and held captive for seventy years. King Cyrus released the Jewish people from captivity with instruction and provisions to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. (see Ezra 1, Isaiah 44:28-45:5)

Although thousands of Jews returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the surrounding region, thousands of others remained in Persia, including a man named Mordecai and his young, orphaned cousin, Esther, who by divine appointment became Queen Esther of Persia under King Ahasuerus (478 BCE).

During Queen Esther’s reign, Haman, a high-ranking Persian official, devised a genocidal plan for all Jewish people within the Persian Empire–ranging from India to Ethiopia. The biblical book of Esther provides the story of God’s miraculous deliverance of His people and Haman’s destruction. 

The Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates this divine deliverance, was instituted and first celebrated in Susa (Esther 9:26–32), Persia’s capital city, located today in southwest Iran.

In our day, another genocidal scheme for the extermination of the Jewish people has existed in Iran (ancient Persia) led by radical Islamic clerics, and we are seeing God’s hand again empower Jewish leadership and ally forces to defeat another satanic effort to destroy the Jews. 

The US officially designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984, based on their ongoing activities in multiple countries through their militant arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC).²

The IRGC also uses proxy terrorist organizations including those listed above as tools for deniability and shields from accountability. Iran supplies their proxies with cash, weapons, training and intel, while the proxies offer their blood through jihad. Iran was directly connected with the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis and subsequent terrorist strikes by Hezbollah upon northern communities in Israel. 

Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis share Shia Muslim ideology, however Hamas is a Sunni Muslim movement. Despite their differences, Shia and Sunni ideologies have one thing in common: their hatred for Israel.

The old saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” applies here.

Iran’s nuclear program began in the 1950s with peaceful origins and US support.³ The cooperative effort collapsed with the 1979 Islamic Revolution and ideological shift. With the same mouth, Iran claims peaceful nuclear purposes, and the elimination of Israel and the US 

Israel, the US, and other world leaders agree that a nuclear Iran led by radical Islamists is an existential threat to Israel, at the minimum. Before the UN General Assembly in September 2012, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared the “red line” Israel must hold Iran to in their production of highly enriched uranium, the fuel for a nuclear weapon.

The stated red line: “Before Iran gets to a point where it’s a few months away or a few weeks away from amassing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.”⁴

In April 2025, based on intelligence that Iran was within days to months of a nuclear bomb, President Trump gave Iran 60 days to come under renewed restrictions. Iran refused. The red line had been crossed.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), watchdog for Iran’s enrichment program, published the May 31, 2025 report confirming Iran was noncompliant to agreement terms in their production of uranium.⁵ 

On June 13, day 61 after President Trump’s warning to Iran, Israel and the U.S did what they had to do: eliminate Iran’s capability to destroy them.⁶

Since the war in June 2025, Iran’s leadership has been aggressively rebuilding their nuclear program. The February 2026 US-Israel joint military operations against Iran’s leadership and nuclear program are essentially a continuation to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

The US-Israel joint military operation’s stated objective is to eliminate Iran’s capability to produce nuclear weapons and manufacture enough ballistic missiles that can produce the effects of a nuclear weapon. This weaponry in the hands of Iran’s militant-Islamic leaders pose an imminent and existential threat to Israel. 

The joint operation has also eliminated the top-tier of government leaders and IRGC generals who have refused negotiations and murdered at least 30,000 of their own citizens who have risen to protest the current regime. Also targeted are key scientists who developed and led the nuclear program and would potentially rebuild it if allowed. 

During Operation Rising Lion (June 2025) a hacking group dubbed “predatory sparrow” connected to the Israeli security establishment used cyber war to destroy and disrupt critical data infrastructure affiliated with the funding of the IRGC.⁷ 

The IDF continues to alert Iranian civilians of imminent military activities with evacuation orders.

Iran has fired hundreds of military drones and long-range ballistic missiles toward heavily populated civilian centers within Israel and US military bases in the Middle East. Surrounding countries affected by Iran's multi-front aerial attack include Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, and Oman.

As of March 3, the IRGC closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for global oil supplies. Iran has massive oil reserves, and is a top ten oil-producing country with China receiving 90% of Iran’s oil exports as of 2024-2025. Putting a chokehold on global oil supply is a war strategy.

Prior to his recent death, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, stated Iran is not a nation that will surrender and assured they will respond without restraint.⁸ 

It’s yet to be seen who will replace Khamenei and what direction the country will take.

The Israeli air defense system has successfully intercepted and destroyed between 85-90% of the incoming drones and long-range ballistic missiles fired from Iran. Due to the high number of missiles in the air at one time, the air defense system can experience an overwhelm where 10-15% of the missiles breach the protection layer resulting in direct impact on Israel’s general population.

Israel’s multi-layered air defense system includes the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow 2 and 3, Iron Beam and the new Barak Magen. These have been deployed with remarkable success providing critical protection for Israel.

The 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew a monarchy friendly with Israel and the US, and radically shifted Iran into an enemy Islamic state led by an Ayatollah (Shia Muslim cleric) with supreme authority over all political and religious matters.

Iran’s, now late, Supreme Leader, was 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled from 1989 to February 2026. His primary task was to safeguard the Islamic system and ensure all segments of government function in line with Islamic tenets and the principles of the revolution.

For him the 1979 revolution was about ridding Iran of two evils—the shah (Iran’s monarch) and the United States—and creating a theocratic government (ruled by religion) with these core values: justice, independence, self-sufficiency, and Islamic piety. He rarely missed an opportunity to espouse these values—and express his deep hatred for Israel (“the Zionist entity”) and the United States (“global arrogance”). 

He believed their nuclear program embodies these core values, and saw Iran as a vanguard for the Islamic world—Shia and Sunni. He was at complete odds with Western mindsets and policies.

Karim Sadjadpour, in his book Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader, wrote: “Khamenei will never agree to any arrangement in which Iran is expected to publicly retreat or admit defeat, nor can he be forced to compromise through pressure alone. . . . He believes deeply that compromising in the face of pressure is counterproductive, as it projects weakness and only encourages greater pressure.”

Ali Khamanei was killed by an Israeli airstrike on February 28, 2026. He was a modern-day Haman, harking to the book of Esther, determined to bring about the destruction of the Jewish people only to meet his own fate.

No. In one of his 1979 speeches, Iran’s revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, applied  the terms “little Satan” to Israel and “great Satan” to the US. This view and terminology has taken hold within radical Islam and continues today. Israel is their first target, but not their last - hence their proverb: “First the Saturday people and then the Sunday people.”

There is significant infighting between the two primary sects of Islam, Shia and Sunni, with differing ideologies typically at the root of the violence. One tenet the two sides differ in, generally speaking, is a required Islamic world domination in the last days when their “messiah,” the Mahdi, is believed to come on the world stage. Iran, a Shia Muslim country, believes in this required world domination. Although Israel and the US are more imminent targets for Iran, if Iran continues as a Shia Muslim state there will be fighting over lands in their future. 

With some exception, the larger portion of the Iranian population does not support their current government. They long for freedom from radical Islamic rule, ally with Israel and the Jewish people, and want new leadership and direction for their country. This is especially true of the younger generation.

The Iranian people have suffered years of economic hardship from international sanctions and mismanagement within the republic, and extreme social and religious constraints under Islamic rule. 

Widespread protests in recent months have been met with lethal military force. An estimated 30,000 Iranians have been murdered for expressing opposition to the Islamic regime. 

The biblical “last days” are a hot topic of study bearing a multitude of opinions and convictions. It’s good to study, it’s also good to recognize no one has every detail correct—no one, but Jesus.

In Matthew 24, Jesus addressed His disciples' question, “What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?” Jesus listed specific details including wars and rumors of wars. In 2 Timothy 3:1–9, the apostle Paul provided characteristics of the world in the last days. 

The prophet Jeremiah recorded a prophecy about Elam (Iran) in Jeremiah 49:34-39. Verses 35-37 speak of Elam’s judgment, the breaking of Elam’s bow, their finest strength, and the scattering of the people.

The Elamites were known as expert archers (Is. 22:6) who joined Assyria in the attack on ancient Israel. Could it be that Jeremiah was given the word about God’s judgment for Elam’s participation in violence against the Jewish people?

Whatever the reason for Elam’s punishment, it would not be permanent, for God promised to set His throne in Elam (like a victorious king would in a conquered city), and “in the last days” restore Elam’s fortunes.

Could there have been an ancient fulfillment already as a foreshadow of another punishment and restoration in the last days? Only the Lord knows for sure.

Two things are certain: God will protect His people, Israel; and God so loves the world, all people from every corner of the planet, and His heart is for their salvation and restoration.

Thank you for your love and concern during these two-and-a-half-years of war, which really began on October 7, and out of necessity has grown into Operation Roaring Lion.

• Pray: This is our greatest offensive and defensive weapon.

E. M. Bounds exhorts us:

• “God shapes the world by prayer.”  
• “The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His great work upon earth.”⁹

FIRM provides critical up-to-date prayer points here. We invite you to partner with us and thank you for approaching God’s throne on behalf of the Jewish people and for the people of Iran, especially the courageous underground Church, our brothers and sisters in Yeshua.

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Please find out more about this initiative here. Your gift greatly impacts lives here in Israel.

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