World War III Will Start With Iran
Bible prophecy shows that Iran will trigger World War iii. I have been pointing to this prophecy in the Trumpet since 1992. In the 3½ decades since, Iran and its terrorist proxies have been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including hundreds of Americans.
Over the years I have strongly criticized America’s lack of will to confront this obvious threat, especially Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“[T]he solution to terrorism lies in doing something about it! We must confront the source. The terrorist movement flows from Iran,” I wrote in the November 2003 Trumpet.
“The only way to win the war on terror is to either subdue or conquer Iran,” I wrote in 2008. “America and Israel have ample power to do so, but they cower in fear because they lack the will to strike the head of the snake. Wouldn’t it be far better to act now, before Iran gets nuclear weapons? You can be sure Iran will cause a much more dangerous war in the Middle East when that happens.” (Trumpet, April 2008).
America “simply will not receive the blessings God would like to provide until it heeds what God tells us to do, even in our foreign policy,” I added in 2018. “Look at the Middle East right now, and you get a clear picture of the danger in ignoring this truth” (Trumpet, January 2018).
Now we have a U.S. president and an Israeli prime minister who are taking action. Both have recognized Iran’s nuclear threat and have acted to confront it. Their bold strikes last summer, and this recent war, show a fighting spirit that God can use to hold back the evil forces of nuclear aggression and annihilation!
But big questions remain. Will these strikes be enough to destroy Iran’s terrorist threat? Last summer, President Donald Trump said the U.S. had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. But just eight months later, we had to go back. Iran’s nuclear program wasn’t obliterated—it was delayed. And its nuclear ambitions were undeterred.
Will this war have a different result? Will it slow down the fulfillment of Bible prophecy? Or will it speed up events?
Confronting Evil
For decades, America and Israel have been unwilling to confront Iran. For years we have left Iran unchecked and allowed this problem to grow. Iran’s influence has been expanding in many countries in the Middle East and beyond. “This radical nation has proved over the years how dedicated to the death it is to its cause,” I wrote in 2018. “How can America or any other power effectively push back? It will take some determined violence on the ground. And America is proving unwilling to make such a commitment” (Trumpet, January 2018).
Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons, mount them on ballistic missiles, and fire them at Israel. It wants to wipe Israel off the map and, if it could, the U.S., too! It continually threatens to kill Americans, including the president. Iran is the main source of terrorism in the region and has brutally suppressed its own people. Can you imagine what it would do if it got nuclear weapons?
I am glad to see Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu express such determination to prevent that from happening. But it also concerns me that President Trump has been so intent on trying to get the Iranians to negotiate an end to their nuclear program.
Do the president and his officials realize what kind of force they are up against? Iran is not a normal power. The Iranian ideology is evil through and through. No other nation matches its fanatical thinking and extreme religious beliefs. These leaders believe they have a religious duty to bring upon the world a nuclear cataclysm so their messiah can return!
No words will stop this king of terror. Their actions have proved for decades that they use negotiation only as a ploy. Iran believes the harder it fights, the sooner its messiah will return!
This toxic ideology is deeply entrenched. America cannot win this war unless it recognizes this fact.
The Folly of Negotiation
President Trump appears to have a certain readiness to fight, but some of his statements signal that he is unwilling to finish the job.
On a Truth Social post after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28, he wrote: “Hopefully, the irgc [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and police will peacefully merge with the Iranian patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the country to the greatness it deserves.”
The U.S. has designated the irgc as a foreign terrorist organization. They conduct weapons smuggling, kidnappings and assassination plots. They, especially their overseas operations branch, the irgc Quds Force, have been responsible for most of the terrorist attacks on U.S. interests abroad, including Americans killed in Iraq by Iran-supplied weapons or militias. They alone are guilty of killing about 600 soldiers in Iraq! They are also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Iranian civilians!
Trump’s hope that these terrorists can be useful in a peaceful transition is delusional.
In the first few days of the war, Trump expressed eagerness to return to the negotiating table, but the Iranians refused.
God wants us to trust Him. Not only individually—He also wants our nations to trust Him! If you’re going to trust God, you must trust Him completely. You can’t be halfway about it—just invoking His name or offering up a few token prayers—and expect Him to protect and deliver you.
Our world has chosen the way of warfare instead of full trust in God. And if you are going to war in this evil world, you had better go all the way! Weakness in a world full of beasts will get you killed!
War Weariness
There is an even bigger problem than Donald Trump’s naivety: Americans’ unwillingness to fight.
Again, Iran has been provoking and attacking America for 47 years! If we won’t defend ourselves, how can we survive in this dangerous world?
Yet most Americans do not support this war. A Quinnipiac University poll of 1,002 voters nationwide from March 6-8 found that only 20 percent of Americans would approve putting boots on the ground.
America is tired of fighting wars. That is because for decades we have been warring and losing many lives in vain. This is a fatal disease in a world where we have so many powerful enemies.
Even if Trump wanted to, could he win this war without the backing of the American people? The truth is, we cannot win wars without a fighting spirit and a measure of faith in God!
I have long warned, based on the prophecy of Daniel 11:40, that Iran’s actions will cause the start of World War iii—unless our nations repent. Sadly, we are far from repentance!
Curses
In Leviticus 26, God describes the blessings He will give to the nation that obeys Him and the curses we will suffer when we disobey. America is actually descended from biblical Israel, to whom God made these promises (prove this in Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy; we will gladly send you a copy at no cost). So this warning from God applies directly to us: “But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments … I will break the pride of your power; … And your strength shall be spent in vain …” (verses 14, 19-20).
Our sins against God have brought these curses on us. Broken pride in our power is a curse for our sins. Spending our strength in vain is a curse.
Mr. Armstrong cited the prophecy of Leviticus 26:19 in 1980, when Iranians were holding Americans hostage. “The United States has been held at bay by little Iran—held up to scorn and ridicule before the world,” he wrote. “She [the U.S.] is on the way down—and out!” (Plain Truth, June-July 1980).
The reason America has not been able to claim true and lasting military victories is because of sin! The real fault lies not with any one leader or political party but with the sinful nation as a whole.
Yet instead of recognizing and confessing the sins that led to those losses, we are withdrawing from the world and indulging in our sins all the more!
This is why world events are escalating toward World War iii. Having failed to repent of its sins, America has lost the will to confront Iran, the head of the terrorist-sponsoring snake—just as Chamberlain lacked the will to confront Hitler.
Negotiations with an evil regime led to World War ii. And negotiating with evil regimes like the one in Iran will lead to World War iii!
This is not my human prediction—it is God’s biblical warning!
Anything short of total victory against Iran and its radical ideology will prove a curse on America, the Middle East and the whole world. It will once again be strength “spent in vain” as God warned. It will set the stage for the fulfillment of Daniel 11:40.
This prophecy reveals that the Iranian regime will not only survive this military onslaught but grow more aggressive—and provoke World War iii!
America and Israel’s attack will not end up cutting off the head of the snake. It will instead enrage it and make it more aggressive.
God has given America a brief window to repent of its sins, including in its foreign policy. But if America does not repent, God is going to bring bloody world war to it—and without delay! America’s halfhearted military actions against Iran will thus accelerate its own downfall.
Iran to Push Against Europe
For years Iran has been terrorizing commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. Iran’s retaliatory strikes after the American and Israeli attack quickly caused shipping lanes to shut down. Many Europeans were infuriated, not only by Iran but also by the U.S. and Israel ignoring European interests.
But this war is also an economic burden on the U.S. America has a massive debt problem, and it could soon run out of money to fight expensive wars. A banking crisis in the U.S. would put a sudden end to its military operations abroad.
That is why Europe is watching America’s engagement with skepticism and is starting to take matters into its own hands.
In 2024, Europe sent warships into the area on its own mission, called eunavfor Operation aspides. After Iran’s recent attacks, the EU quickly set out to reinforce this mission. EU officials are now discussing expanding this mission or another into the strait that could bring them into direct confrontation with Iran.
All these events are leading toward the fulfillment of Daniel 11:40: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”
This is a much larger war than we are currently seeing!
Since 1992, I have identified the king of the south as radical Islam, led by Iran. This prophecy reveals that radical Islam will push at the king of the north—a German-led European empire—provoking a war. The Europeans will counterattack and destroy Iran and take their allies captive.
Presently, the German people lack only a strongman to lead them into battle. But Bible prophecy shows they will get their man (Daniel 8:23).
The push will revolve around Jerusalem. It could also involve Iran shutting down trade routes. This clearly shows that the Iranian terrorist network, if not dealt with, will grow stronger and more aggressive. If the U.S. doesn’t repent and deal with this problem, Germany will. But it will not be in America’s favor.
Germany started World War i and World War ii, and it is prophesied to turn to the dark side one last time.
In the same week that America attacked Iran, France announced that it would share its nuclear weapons with Germany. I have long warned that Germany’s attack on Iran could be nuclear. Once Germany takes out Iran, the whole world will fear a militarized Germany! But then it will be too late.
Keep watching this prophetic hotspot. The current Iran war is setting the table for the events that are prophesied to ignite a nuclear world war!