Yesterday’s big casualty in the Iran war was your wallet. Israel struck Iran’s South Pars gas field yesterday, home to 75 percent of Iran’s total gas production. Iran retaliated by striking Ras Laffan in Qatar, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility, responsible for 20 percent of global output. It had hit Ras before, but this attack reportedly caused more extensive damage. Iran also launched missiles and drones at oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Receive a free news briefing in your inbox each weekday—the Trumpet Brief.

“The pendulum of war has swung to a full-scale economic war,” declared an Iranian government official.

President Trump was annoyed. Israel, he posted on social media, had “violently lashed out.” He said, “The United States knew nothing about this particular attack.” He declared in all caps that “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field” unless Iran continues to attack Qatar’s facilities. If Iran does attack, however, America “will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field,” he wrote.

Natural gas prices shot up 35 percent after the attacks and are now double what they were before the war. Brent crude rose 11 percent, hitting $119 a barrel. Around the world, the cost for governments to borrow money jumped, and European stock indexes fell.

Closing the Strait of Hormuz can be undone pretty quickly—though knock-on effects will continue for a while. But when energy infrastructure is destroyed, it will take much longer for prices to recover.

This hits the global economy in many ways. Natural gas is used heavily to make fertilizer. Around a third of the world’s seaborne fertilizer trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Energy-intensive raw materials, like aluminum, are processed in the area. Almost all transport and energy generation depends on the price of oil and gas, as does the price of every raw material, component and finished product that has to move on a ship, train or truck—which is to say, everything.

Jesus Christ told His disciples, “[Y]e shall hear of wars and rumours of wars” (Matthew 24:6). Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and now this bombing campaign against Iran, show how wars can have sudden and far-reaching economic impacts.

Three weeks of bombing are imperiling the global economy. It’s a reminder of how fragile the system is and how quickly it could all come crashing down.

Decades ago, Herbert W. Armstrong warned readers to “prepare to greatly reduce your standard of living!” America has been greatly blessed, but those blessings, including prosperity and power, are being taken away. Our article “Storm-Proof Your Financial House” has a wealth of practical advice you can take to prepare, physically and spiritually.

Russian Aid to Iran Raises Stakes in War

Russia has increased defense aid and intelligence sharing with Iran, helping the regime better target and attack American and Israeli forces, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The expanding support is likely to complicate U.S. and Israeli plans to bring down the Iranian regime and prolong a conflict from which Russia benefits.

Quiet contributions: The Russians have provided Iran with components for adapted Shahed drones intended to enhance navigation and communication. Drawing on its widespread use of Shahed and Shahed-style drones in the war on Ukraine, Russia has advised Iran on issues related to optimal flight altitudes and drone quantities needed for certain types of attacks.

Russia has also provided satellite imagery, enabling Iran to strike specific U.S. assets in the region, including a high-value early-warning radar system in Jordan.

“Iranian targeting in the Gulf has been more focused on radar and command and control. Iran’s strike packages have come to strongly resemble what Russia does [in its war on Ukraine].”
—Nicole Grajewski, Russia-Iran relations expert

Mutual benefit: Since Russia expanded its war against Ukraine in February 2022, Iran has emerged as a close partner, selling it more than 50,000 suicide drones and significant quantities of munitions. Iran has also helped Russia circumvent sanctions. Considering this aid, Russia’s decision to increase support for Iran is hardly unexpected.

• Russia also benefits from a prolonged Iran war since the conflict constricts assistance to Ukraine and boosts global prices of oil—the lifeblood of Russia’s economy, especially during wartime.

The Trump administration downplayed the significance of Russia’s assistance. Spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Wednesday, “Nothing provided to Iran by any other country is affecting our operational success.”

But Russia’s expanding support shows the potential for Iran to weather sustained assaults and exert outsized force beyond U.S. and Israeli expectations—and perhaps beyond what voters will tolerate.

Be it due to Russian backing or other dynamics, the Trumpet contends that the current conflict will not remove Iran’s radical Islamist regime.

The Netherlands Rocked by Terror Attacks

The Netherlands has experienced three high-profile Islamic terror attacks since Friday. With the United States and Israel fighting Iran, they demonstrate Europe’s vulnerability and susceptibility to getting involved in, as many see it, a “civilizational conflict.”

• The morning of March 13, a Rotterdam synagogue was hit with an explosion. Four teenagers were arrested soon after near another synagogue, possibly planning a second attack. Dutch authorities said the teens were recruited and are investigating whether the recruiters are linked to Iran.
• That evening, during the Sabbath, an explosion hit a Jewish school in Amsterdam.
• On March 15, the Bank of New York’s office complex in Amsterdam’s financial district was blasted.

The group that claimed responsibility for the attacks was Ashab al-Yamin (“People of the Right,” as in “righteousness”), which apparently formed only weeks ago. Its videos claiming responsibility for the attacks appeared on Shiite terrorist-affiliated social media channels. It also claimed to be behind terror attacks against Jewish sites in Belgium and Greece.

Yesterday, the Dutch House of Representatives passed a bill, 76 to 150, to ban the Muslim Brotherhood. The bill was sponsored by former coalition member Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom. It now passes to the Dutch Senate.

Daniel 11:40 is an end-time prophecy of two power blocs, referred to as “the king of the south” and “the king of the north,” clashing in a worldwide conflict. As Gerald Flurry writes in his free booklet The King of the South, the first of these kings is radical Islam led by Iran; the second is united Europe. The Bible says it is this clash, rather than any war with America, that will ignite worldwide calamity.

Europe, to this point, has tried to stay out of America’s fight against Iran. But radical Islam’s “push” is prophesied to get more and more provocative until Europe feels compelled to intervene.

IN OTHER NEWS

Germany prepares for the day after the Iran war: “Washington did not consult us. We would have advised against it,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Bundestag yesterday, regarding the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. Concerning U.S. President Donald Trump’s request to help block Iran from striking civilian container ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Merz reiterated that Germany won’t help as long as the war is ongoing, but he added: “If the conditions are right, we will not close ourselves off to a discussion about free navigation once the war has ended …. We will intervene where we have national competence and see room for action.” The end of the war may happen sooner than later: President Trump posted to social media yesterday, “I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian terror state, and let the countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Strait?’ That would get some of our non-responsive ‘allies’ in gear, and fast!!!” Bible prophecy reveals that Germany will confront Iran in the future when the U.S. will no longer project power in the Middle East.

Democracy in Europe still declining: Sixty-five percent of Central and Eastern Europe is under the control of an “electoral autocracy,” according to the University of Gothenburg V-Dem Institute’s 2026 Democracy Report, released on Tuesday. Analysts consider 11 countries to be transitioning to autocracy, up three from the previous year and including European Union members Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia. By the institute’s metrics, only 29 percent of the region’s population lives under a true democracy. The rise of authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe reflects a desire for strong leadership that will soon affect Germany as well.

Cuba compromises: Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Cuba’s deputy prime minister, announced Monday that Cubans living abroad will soon be allowed to own businesses and invest in Cuba’s private sector. Fraga said the Cuban government is “open to maintaining a fluid commercial relationship with U.S. companies” and with “Cubans living in the United States and their descendants.” This comes amid an ongoing economic blockade from the U.S. and negotiations that could significantly alter Cuba’s Communist regime. The U.S. appears to be in a strong position regarding Cuba, but Bible prophecy indicates the foreign power that will ultimately dominate the strategic island nation will be Europe.

Canada’s population is shrinking: A preliminary report from Statistics Canada indicates that Canada’s total population shrank last year by 103,504 people (0.2 percent), the first decline since record keeping began during World War II. Statistics Canada cites a decrease in the country’s number of temporary workers. Some analysts suspect that Prime Minister Mark Carney is tightening immigration to defang his Conservative rivals by adopting one of their signature policies. Regardless, this demonstrates that, without immigration, Canada is aging, part of a global trend toward a “baby-free world.”