Get a free copy of Parental Rights & Education when you subscribe to our newsletter!
The important thing to remember is that Israel did not start this war. For more than 45 years, Iran has waged terror against the Israeli homeland and the West, and it simply cannot be allowed to have or — God forbid — use a nuclear weapon.
Late last week, Israel launched a surprise air attack on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure and other strategic assets, an operation that has raged over the weekend and into Tuesday morning, even as Iran has responded by firing missiles into dense population centers inside of Israel.
In a late-night address to the world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained that Iran is on the cusp of developing a nuclear weapon that it intends to use as part of its long-time war against Israel and the West.
“Iran has built a massive store of ballistic missiles,” he said. “Each one carries a ton of explosives and can reach Israel from Iran within minutes. They planned to produce 20,000 of them in the next six years. We are operating to remove them before it’s too late.”
As this rapidly evolving situation continues, here’s how the conflict got to this point and what we know so far.
Last Friday morning, Israel began a military operation, code-named “Rising Lion,” that initially dropped over 330 munitions on about 100 targets. The operation took years of planning.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said that the operation was conducted to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. According to the IDF, Iran has now enriched enough uranium for 15 nuclear bombs.
The United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency backs up that claim, recently finding that Iran is in breach of its nuclear non-proliferation agreement not to pursue nuclear weapons. The Agency estimated that Iran had enriched enough uranium for nine nuclear weapons.
Israel said it launched the attack because Iran was arriving at a “point of no return” in developing nuclear weapons.
“The Iranian regime has been working for decades to obtain a nuclear weapon. The world has attempted every possible diplomatic path to stop it, but the regime has refused to stop,” the IDF said.
The attack killed numerous military leaders, including Commander Hossein Salami, leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the leader of the Iranian military, as well as numerous nuclear scientists in an attempt to decimate the country’s nuclear program.
The nation is also targeting Iran’s store of ballistic missiles.
Following the attack, Iran launched approximately 100 military drones into Israel, many of which were intercepted. Iran then launched less than 100 missiles into Israel. The IDF claims only a few of those missiles reached their targets, although a high-rise apartment building in Tel Aviv was hit, as well as homes in a rural Arab town.
On Monday, Israel bombed the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, Iran’s state-run media, claiming it is a “propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority.” The IDF said it was being “used for military purposes by the Iranian Armed Forces.”
The countries continued to battle into Monday night, exchanging missile fire.
The IDF claims that if has achieved full aerial superiority and has destroyed one-third of Iran’s missile launchers.
Israel also says that 24 of its civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded by Iran’s attacks on population centers, including in Tel Aviv, while it claims that approximately 224 people, mostly military commanders and political leaders, have been killed in Iran by Israel.
The U.S. is Israel’s most important and loyal ally, but the Trump administration claims that it had no involvement in the current strikes on Iran, though President Trump has not ruled out military action if Iran attacks U.S. military assets or people stationed in the region.
President Trump, who has long stated that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, placed the blame for the hostilities on Iranian leaders. Since he took office in January, he has been trying to negotiate a deal that would include Iran giving up its ambitions to have nuclear weapons. In April, Trump gave the country 60 days to finalize the deal, but he said that Iranian leaders have refused to make a deal that would end its nuclear program. Trump said that when the 61st day came, Israel attacked Iran.
Reportedly, Iran has now expressed a desire to negotiate and has requested that U.S. allies encourage Trump to push for a ceasefire.
Trump has made clear his desire for an end to the war and his confidence that a deal will be done, but he has refused calls to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.
The White House responded to a potential G7 statement urging de-escalation by saying, “Under the strong leadership of President Trump, the United States is back to leading the effort to restore peace around the world. President Trump will continue to work towards ensuring Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.”
It has also been reported that Trump blocked an Israeli plan to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as the West expresses concerns about escalation. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not rule out killing Khamenei, explaining, “It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.”
He added,
“We’ve had half a century of conflict spread by this regime that terrorizes everyone in the Middle East; has bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia; is spreading terrorism and subversion and sabotage everywhere. The ‘forever war’ is what Iran wants, and they’re bringing us to the brink of nuclear war. In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing this, bringing an end to this aggression, and we can only do so by standing up to the forces of evil.”
Netanyahu said he is “not surprised” that Iran is claiming it wants to resume negotiations.
“They want to continue to have these fake talks in which they lie, they cheat, they string the U.S. along. And, you know, we have very solid Intel on that. They want to keep on building their nuclear weapons and building their mass ballistic missile arsenal, which they’re firing at our people. They want to continue to create the two existential threats against Israel while they’re talking. That’s not going to happen.”
Many Republican officials and conservative pundits have strongly opposed any U.S. military action, with some even calling for the U.S. to halt all funding to Israel.
Netanyahu reacted to those sentiments by saying, “We’re taking the action. America is supporting us in defense. Deeply, deeply appreciated. But this is a threat to the entire world. It’s a threat to Israel; as I said — to our Arab neighbors, to Europe, to America. They chant ‘Death to America.’ It’s though — ‘This is not your business’? This is not myopia. This is utter blindness.”
He continued, “Sometimes you have to take a stand against evil. And that’s what the American people instinctively understand — most of them, I have to say. And that’s what President Trump understands. We cannot let that happen.”
Most Westerners associate Iran with the repression of women and brutal public executions, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, during the 1960s and 1970s, Iran was essentially a Westernized nation, complete with a thriving economy, universities, shopping excursions, concerts, fashion magazines, filmmaking, and beach vacations.
Under the rule of autocrat Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, an ally of the United States, the country modernized and instituted a number of economic growth and development programs. Women’s rights were expanded, with women allowed to interact freely with men. The hijab was outlawed, and women were awarded the right to vote in the 1960s. In fact, every Iranian citizen was encouraged to get a college degree.
Yet the Shah himself was an authoritarian ruler, and his hard rule, along with negative reaction by hardline Islamists to the social changes he implemented, eventually led to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the rise of Iran’s current theocratic dictatorship.
Once in power, Islamic radicals imposed severe restrictions on society as it sought to return the nation to strict interpretations of Islam. This led to the loss of virtually all rights by women. It also led to the government spending much of its focus and resources waging near constant war on Israel and the West.
In November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy and took 52 Americans hostage. President Jimmy Carter was unable to secure the release of the hostages and they were held for 444 days. Only hours after President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January 1981, the hostages were finally set free.
It was the first strike in Iran’s unending war on its “enemies” which it sees as Israel, the United States, and the West.
In the 1980s, Iran helped create the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, as well as Hamas, the Palestinian terror group, and also financially backs the Houthis, a rebel group based in Yemen.
Since that time, Iran and its proxies have committed numerous attacks on Western military assets and civilians. In 1983, Hezbollah used a truck bomb to smash into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemembers and 58 French paratroopers as they slept. They also bombed the U.S. embassy in 1983, which left 69 people dead, including 17 Americans. And in 1996, Hezbollah terrorists, using intelligence provided by Iran, bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. servicemembers and injuring hundreds of others.
Iran-backed terrorists also kidnapped and brutally killed Americans doing normal everyday activities, including 23-year-old Robert Stethem, a U.S. Navy diver who was beaten, tortured, and shot dead after the commercial airliner, TWA 847, was hijacked by Hezbollah.
In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran, issued a worldwide fatwa ordering the execution of Salman Rushdie, a British-American citizen, for his irreverent depiction of the prophet Mohammed in his book The Satanic Verses. As a result, bookstores around the world were bombed and several people involved in publishing and translating the book were attacked, with several killed. Rushdie was forced to live in hiding for years; in 2022, while giving a lecture at a book festival, he was tackled and stabbed repeatedly by a 24-year-old Muslim, ultimately losing an eye and suffering damage to his liver and hand.
Throughout the decades, Iran has also encouraged and funded terror attacks on Israeli soil. In fact, terror has been described as a “feature of life” for those living in Israel, as thousands of its citizens have been stabbed, shot, bombed, or burned alive in their homes or while just going about their day-to-day business.
Not surprisingly, Iran fully supported and praised Hamas after its brutal attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, with Khamenei writing in a post on X: “God willing, the cancer of the usurper Zionist regime will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region. #AlAqsaStorm”
Twice in 2024, Iran directly launched a barrage of missiles into Israeli cities. Iran claimed it was in retaliation for Israel killing the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
How should Christians respond? First and foremost, Christians should pray for the safety of civilians, both in Israel and Iran, and for wisdom for world leaders.
Second as debates among Christians and conservatives rage about this war and whether or not — or to what extent — United States should be involved, it is crucial to remember that Israel did not start this conflict.
Iran has waged war on Israel and the West for over 45 years. As it repeatedly broadcasts its calls for “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” it has been pursuing the development of nuclear weapons and stockpiling missiles to use against Israel (and potentially the U.S. homeland). It has hidden behind its terror proxies Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis to attack both military sites and civilians.
And egregiously, it fully supported Hamas’s detestable actions against civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, on October 7, 2023, and refused to call on them to release their hostages. And last year, on two occasions, it directly launched missiles into Israel.
Israel is not the aggressor here. It is defending its people from a crazed group of evil men who desire the complete eradication of Israel and ensuring that they do not obtain the means to actually get the job done.
The Israeli government has a God-given responsibility to wield the sword when evil is being perpetrated against its people. For more than 45 years, Iran’s Islamic regime has waged war and terror against Israel, as well as the West and even its own people. Given that record, there was no way that Israel could risk letting them have a nuclear weapon. As Prime Minister Netanyahu put so starkly:
“We cannot leave these threats for the next generation. Because if we don’t act now, there will not be another generation. If we don’t act now, we simply won’t be here.… When an enemy says he intends to destroy you — believe him. When he develops the capabilities to do so — stop him.”
If you like this article and other content that helps you apply a biblical worldview to today’s politics and culture, consider making a donation here.
