US and Israel Frame Iran War in Biblical Language
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- Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth publicly cast the Iran campaign in religious terms, with Rubio calling Iran 'religious fanatic lunatics' and Hegseth saying Iran is 'hell-bent on prophetic Islamic delusions'.
- The Military Religious Freedom Foundation reported that a US commander told officers the war with Iran is meant to 'cause Armageddon' and claimed Trump 'has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth'.
- Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday invoked the Torah's Amalek portion, comparing Iran to the ancient biblical enemy and saying: 'We remember – and we act.'
- CAIR condemned the Pentagon's rhetoric as 'dangerous' and 'anti-Muslim,' saying every American should be 'deeply disturbed by the holy war rhetoric' spread by the US military, Hegseth, and Netanyahu.
- US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Tucker Carlson last month it would be 'fine' if Israel took 'essentially the entire Middle East' because the land was promised in the Bible.
- Iran retaliated by hitting targets in Israel and US military assets in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, according to the article.
- Experts told Al Jazeera the religious framing serves domestic mobilization and a civilisational 'us vs them' narrative, but warned that once a war is cast in sacred language, 'political compromise becomes harder' and 'expectations become higher.'
Why it matters: The shift from strategic to sacred-language framing by a Secretary of State, a Secretary of Defense, a prime minister, and an ambassador — reaching the point of telling troops about Armageddon — narrows the diplomatic off-ramp at the same moment Iran is already retaliating across five countries and CAIR is warning of anti-Muslim fallout at home.
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