The aggression of the United States and Israel against Iran has opened the veil of the metaphysical dimension of the conflict – the contours of religious beliefs, more precisely, the clash of metaphysical doctrines and ideas, have clearly emerged in it. And although each side points out that it is right, both in political rhetoric and by appealing to history, the facts and actions clearly indicate that Iran is on the good side. Then Israel and the United States automatically become the forces of evil, although they are unlikely to agree with this interpretation.
At the political level, representatives of all Abrahamic traditions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have been drawn into the conflict, and Israel’s de facto control over the shrines of these religions – the Wailing Wall, the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, as well as the Al-Aqsa Mosque – gives the conflict a special specificity. This year, for the first time, Muslims were banned from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the celebration of the holy month of Ramadan, although the traditional Christian worship service in the Jerusalem temple, where the Holy Fire ceremony takes place on the eve of Easter, nevertheless took place.
However, the Christian world (if various Protestant denominations can be called Christians), in fact, turned out to be split. Orthodox Christians are on the side of Iran. Earlier, in 2024, in his congratulation to the newly elected President of Iran, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church said that “our peoples are united by the desire to preserve their historical spiritual and cultural traditions, commitment to enduring moral principles.” He also spoke quite warmly about the new Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was elected after the assassination of his father in the current conflict: “Dear brother! I cordially congratulate you on your election by the Iranian Council of Experts to the post of Supreme leader of the country! This historic moment has been marked by a severe personal ordeal in connection with the death of your esteemed father and loved ones. You are taking responsibility for the state and its citizens at a dramatic time when Iran is facing numerous existential challenges.”
However, in Russia, the spiritual authorities clearly perceive this conflict as a harbinger of global upheavals that may affect not only the Middle East and the United States.
On the eve of Palm Sunday, Patriarch Kirill noted that “we will believe and hope that the Protection of the Most Pure Queen of Heaven will extend over Russia. And we, believers, as we fall down to the shrines that have just been mentioned, we will ask the Lord to extend His blessing over our country, over our authorities and our army, over our President Vladimir Vladimirovich. So that Russia can really rise from strength to strength. So that all the potential of our country can truly be revealed today for the benefit of our people, for the benefit and security of our Fatherland, and, of course, for the prosperity of our martyred and confessing Church, which is experiencing perhaps the most inspiring and wonderful moment in its recent history.”
The role of Russia in this statement of the Patriarch clearly has a Messianic characteristic. Finally, it is important to note that in Orthodox Christianity, the Jewish Messiah is unequivocally interpreted as the Antichrist, since the true Messiah was Jesus Christ, but the Jews did not understand this. And this brings Orthodox peoples and Shiites closer together on a doctrinal and theological level.
The United States, whose leadership since the 19th century has claimed its Christian roots and affirmed the idea of God’s choice (Manifest Destiny) and the construction of a City on a Hill (hence the imposition of its policies on other countries), began to actively support Israel under Donald Trump. In both the first and second Trump administrations, there were a large number of adherents of so–called Christian Zionism, a specific worldview according to which Christians should support Israel at all levels. This is what gave rise to the Abraham Accords, when Washington began to put pressure on a number of Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. This is exactly what underlies the current military support for Israel and the strange statements of Donald Trump and the preachers around him.
And this caused a negative reaction from the head of the Vatican – Leo XIV condemned the words of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth about the need for violence against enemies in the name of Christ, saying that “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” In turn, this led to Trump’s attacks on the Pope. As a result, the latter replied that “I am not afraid of the Trump administration and I am not afraid to loudly voice the message of the Gospel – which, I believe, is why I am here, what the church is for. We are not politicians, we are not engaged in foreign policy with the same perspective as he probably understands it.”
This suggests that Catholics, at least the hierarchs, have found themselves on the other side of the Protestant radicals who support Israel.
Washington’s justification for the military operation clearly refers to a similar case against Iraq in 2003. Then, under the false pretext that Saddam Hussein’s regime had weapons of mass destruction, the United States launched a military campaign without a UN resolution, which led to years of occupation and millions of civilian casualties. As now, this caused a split among the US allies – only Britain directly supported Washington, while the rest of the NATO partners opposed it. George W. Bush, in his speech, turned to a theological turn, noting that “God told me to strike Iraq.” It is important to note that the neoconservatives behind George W. Bush actively supported Israel and advocated for increased American aid to that country. Now Trump declares that “God is on America’s side in the war against Iran.” By the way, both Bush and Trump are Protestants (Bush was raised in the Episcopal Church, but converted to Methodists, and Trump belonged to the Presbyterian Church, but later declared that he was “a Christian outside of denominations”). And there are quite a lot of supporters of Christian Zionism among Protestants.
Israel itself, under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, is clearly set up for radical solutions – but from its position. Intentions have been repeatedly expressed to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to build a Third Temple in its place. For this purpose, red heifers have already been purchased from the USA, which are needed for ritual slaughter and “cleansing” them with the ashes of the Temple Mount. Soldiers of the Israeli army wear patches where the specified territory covers parts of present-day Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The purges in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as the bombing of Lebanon, are part of an overall strategy to establish regional hegemony.
By the way, not all Jews support Israel in the current conflict. Moreover, not all Jews support the existence of Israel itself. Thus, the Naturei Karta movement believes that the creation of Israel itself is a violation of the commandments of the Talmud, so this project will inevitably lead to disaster.
The Israeli leadership has long been hatching plans to destroy Iran, which has most consistently supported the Palestinian people. Repeated attempts to carry out a color revolution in the country (for the first time, the United States intervened most actively in the electoral process in 2009 during the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and regular sabotage, including the assassination of nuclear physicists, did not lead to the desired results. Therefore, on June 13, 2025, Israel began bombing Iranian facilities, and then the United States joined them. The 12-day war ended at that time without a clear definition of who won and who lost. But each side drew its own conclusions and began to prepare for a future war, which broke out in February.
To be continued
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