Good morning!

The Iran war has entered week three. It is clearer than ever that a quick end would leave Iran bloodied but unbowed. President Trump wants to declare victory and leave, but this would leave intact Iran’s threat to the Strait of Hormuz and the energy crisis it has created. Thus Trump faces a dilemma: declare success, or risk deeper entanglement to force an acceptable deal.

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The fundamental reality America faces is that the Iranian regime has sunk deep roots over the past five decades since its Islamic revolution. Replacing it with a less-radical, less-provocative government would take enormous resolve—resolve that, frankly, America does not have.

The Islamic Republic was built to survive a siege. Its leaders assume hostility from abroad, dissent at home, and crisis as a permanent condition. Their primary purpose is not prosperity or popularity but survival.

At the center of the survival machine is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Unlike a normal military, the irgc is an ideological army tasked with protecting the revolution itself. Over decades, it has expanded into a sprawling network that spans intelligence, domestic security, regional militias and a vast economic empire. Its commanders control lucrative industries and wield enormous political influence.

Meanwhile, Iran’s opposition movements—courageous though they may be—are fragmented, leaderless, heavily surveilled and ruthlessly attacked. Because demonstrations are closely monitored by security services, who often use them to later identify and punish dissident networks, some believe the regime actually allows occasional protests to smoke out disloyalty.

Driving its determination and resilience is the regime’s radical ideology. It views its struggle with the West as deeply rooted in Shiite history: endurance under oppression, sacrifice in the face of enemy force. Foreign attacks are a badge of honor for loyalists, showing that they are guardians of a civilizational mission. Warfare is the calling for the soldiers of Allah.

On February 17, in his final speech before being killed, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the “U.S. empire … truly is crumbling. They have problems in their economy, problems with their policies, and problems in their society. More than 50 percent of the U.S. population don’t approve of their current president. … The Americans themselves who are constantly threatening that ‘there will be a war’ or that ‘such and such will happen’ know that they don’t have the staying power for such a thing. Their economic problems, their political problems, and their international reputation and standing cannot endure a confrontation of that nature.”

Sadly, there is plenty of evidence to support this bleak assessment. Wars rarely topple systems like the one leading Iran, and an operation of the current scale will not. The Islamic Republic is braced to absorb the shock—far more than America is braced to win victory at any cost.

Vatican Steps Up Role in U.S.-Cuba Talks

On Friday, Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed on national television that his government is holding talks with the United States government. The primary goal of the talks is to hammer out an economic deal that would allow oil shipments to Cuba to resume before riots escalate.

• No fuel has entered Cuba since the January 3 U.S. arrest of dictator Nicolás Maduro and the subsequent oil embargo.
• Protesters attacked a Communist Party office in central Cuba early on Saturday.

Díaz-Canel also confirmed that Cuba’s government will release 51 people from the Communist island nation’s prisons. This deal was brokered by the Vatican, which had announced three days prior that it was ensuring a “negotiated solution” between the U.S. and Cuba. The next day, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said the prisoners were being released in “the spirit of goodwill, and of the close and fluid relations between the Cuban state and the Vatican ….”

• USA Today reports that a deal with Cuba could include changes to port operations, energy and tourism.
• In exchange for these concessions, Cuba may consider replacing Díaz-Canel, whom U.S. officials see as an obstacle to ongoing talks.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long sought regime change in Cuba and whose parents emigrated from Cuba, has stopped pushing for an abrupt end to communism in favor of more gradual economic reform.

Main player: The Vatican also played a key role in Barack Obama’s negotiations with Cuba in 2013. While many people were optimistic about the “thaw” in relations, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry warned about “the Roman Catholic Church trying to establish a strategic foothold 90 miles from American soil.”

The Vatican’s basic strategy did not change when Obama left the presidency.

“The German-led European Union is the seventh and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire—that same Holy Roman Empire which, centuries ago, used Cuba so powerfully to fuel its wars,” Mr. Flurry wrote in “The Deadly Dangerous U.S.-Cuba Deal.” “If the present resurrection were to move into Cuba again, it would be well positioned to make these kinds of attacks happen. The advantage is that it could do it in the cloak of secrecy, since Cuba is essentially a police state with tight controls on information. Think of the control that it could have. Think of how valuable Cuba has been to America’s enemies in the past!”

As President Trump tries to reduce the threat posed by communists in Cuba, he must beware Vatican involvement. He likely has the economic tools to topple the island’s Communist government, but the Vatican is trying to convince him to pursue reconciliation with Havana rather than outright victory to ensure the Catholic Church plays a greater role in the island’s future.

Iran War: AI Creates a Fake Reality

Iran has virtually destroyed Tel Aviv, killed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and sunk an American aircraft carrier—but the mainstream media is covering it up. That’s a false narrative many people around the world believe, and they have the videos to prove it.

• These videos clearly show the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem being destroyed; Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, being struck with a missile; an American aircraft carrier suffering an explosion.

These are all realistic-looking fakes.

Marc Owen Jones, associate professor of media analytics at Northwestern University in Qatar, told the New York Times, “Even compared to when the Ukraine war broke out, things now are very different. We’re probably seeing far more AI-related content now than we ever have before.”

“The majority of AI videos about the war push pro-Iranian views, often to falsely demonstrate its military superiority and sophistication, according to a study of online activity by Cyabra, a social media intelligence company,” the New York Times wrote.

• Iran, for example, claimed to have crippled, if not sunk, the USS Abraham Lincoln. Video of the strike quickly spread online. In reality, the ship is unharmed.
• Others use AI tools to take real footage and make it look more dramatic. They often have no serious agenda beyond getting clicks.

In all this confusion, legitimate videos are also being accused of AI fakery. Many news watchers are simply giving up on following events, not knowing what to believe.

When America invaded Iraq in 2003, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf became an Internet sensation for his broadcasts claiming that the Iraqis were beating the Americans, even as American troops occupied Baghdad. Now anyone can create a fake narrative and point to video evidence to support it.

The truth: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter,” warns Isaiah 59:14 (Revised Standard Version). Never has it been easier to tell bold lies convincingly.

Consider the critical spiritual dimension here. Here at the Trumpet, we warn that the world has entered the last days. Revelation 12 prophesies that in the end time, Satan the devil will be cast down to Earth. That has happened. The father of lies is confined to Earth and more enraged than ever. He can influence attitudes, moods and emotions (Ephesians 2:2). And now we have a technology that makes it so easy to create fake realities.

Now more than ever we must value and fight for the truth. Our article “Navigating Our Fake World” has more.

IN OTHER NEWS

Trump threatens Kharg Island: United States Central Command struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf on March 13, but notably spared oil and energy infrastructure there, likely out of concern for rising global oil prices. Iran exports about 90 percent of its oil from facilities on this one island. President Trump said that if Iran continues to threaten oil and other shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, the military would strike the oil infrastructure as well—but this, like Iran’s targeting of shipping, would spike energy prices around the world.

Europe to send troops to Hormuz? President Donald Trump has said nato nations may help the U.S. protect ships from Iranian terror in the Strait of Hormuz, but he is not getting his hopes up. “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response,” he said, “I think it will be very bad for the future of nato.” Britain and Germany have balked at direct involvement in the war, but the president is trying to get help from other nations. Daniel 11:40 speaks of Europe as the end-time “king of the north” launching a “whirlwind” attack against the end-time “king of the south,” led by Iran. As Iran threatens the Europeans’ energy supplies, watch for Europe to make further strategic deployments encircling Iran.

Pro-regime Tehran rally attracts thousands: Thousands of Iranians celebrated their nation’s regime in an anti-Israel rally in the capital city on Friday. The celebration was part of Quds Day, a government-sponsored event held on the last Friday of the Islamist Ramadan observance. Stories like this, among other factors, indicate that the regime’s rule is far from over, as forecast by Bible prophecy and explained by Gerald Flurry in The King of the South.

French soldier killed in Iraq: A drone strike killed a French soldier and injured six others in Iraq Thursday night. Though the perpetrator of the attack is unknown, pro-Iran group Ashab al-Kahf said early on Friday: “We announce from this night that all French interests in Iraq and the region will be under fire from our attacks.” French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack “unacceptable” and said, “The war in Iran cannot justify such attacks.” Though Macron insisted France will maintain a defensive approach to the war in the Middle East, Bible prophecy says a time is coming when Europe will strike back against Iran’s aggression on a far greater scale.

French local elections: An early warning sign? On Sunday, France’s far-right Rassemblement National and the leftist socialist party, France Unbowed, performed well in mayoral and city council elections and will remain significant contenders to win in the second round on March 22. That’s despite Marine Le Pen of the Rassemblement National being banned from public office for five years and accusations of anti-Semitism being raised against Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Unbowed. The center-right Horizons party also performed well. All parties participate in the first round of elections, making it an important bellwether for the 2027 presidential election. They indicate France, like most of the rest of Europe, is in for still more political gridlock. Bible prophecy shows that democracy is on its deathbed in Europe and will soon be replaced by autocratic rule.

Deutsche Welle highlights, then ignores, the Nazi roots of Germany’s FBI: Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (bka) celebrated its 75th anniversary on Saturday. Deutsche Welle reviewed its history, writing that it was “dominated for decades by men with Nazi pasts.” The bka’s website states: “Until the late 1960s, the agency was shaped primarily by leaders who had been socialized under National Socialism.” DW wrote, “Whether it was the judiciary, the military or spy agencies the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Intelligence Service (bnd)—all of the arms of the government in the early years of the new Federal Republic were riddled with former Nazis.” The Nazi infiltration of postwar Germany is by now well documented, but the article, like most people, moves on without asking what this means for modern Germany. Herbert W. Armstrong forecast that this would happen. These men infiltrated Germany with the aim of keeping the Nazi spirit alive and reviving German power. Read more in “The Nazi Underground” in He Was Right.

Merz visits Norwegian spaceport: On Friday, Merz visited Norway’s Andoya Spaceport, from which German startup Isar Aerospace plans to launch a rocket later this month. While there, the chancellor met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who stated cooperation between the nations will “help Europe to achieve its goal of being at the forefront of the space industry.” Andoya Spaceport, as one of the few European sites that can facilitate rocket launches, will help Germany achieve its military goals in space.