Iran (MNN) — In the midst of a shaky Israel-Iran truce, let’s take a step back to ask: when did this war actually start? Did Israel begin it on June 13, 2025 by firing on Iranian military and nuclear targets?
Brother F, an Iranian Christian serving with Trans World Radio, points to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as the answer. That’s when “Death to Israel, Death to America” became a government-sanctioned mantra.
“There was the war started actually, not now,” he says. “And people [need] to know this war is also not a war between Iran and Israel: it is war between [the] Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel.”
He means there is a clash of theology in the conflict, a worldview that goes beyond mere nation-to-nation narratives.
It wasn’t always like this. Israel and Iran’s relationship goes back to ancient Old Testament days, says Brother F. In the biblical accounts of Esther, Nehemiah and Daniel, we see kings of Persia like Cyrus and Ahasuerus acting on behalf of Israel.
There’s another thing Brother F wants others to know. Despite the Iranian regime’s efforts, spiritual awakening is surging as the people of Iran reject religion.
“If we go to every Iranian as speaking about religion, they just say, ‘No, I don’t want to know anything about religion. We had Islam. It is enough,’” he says. “[But] when you speak about that ‘Jesus want[s a] personal relation with you,’ they accept it and they love it. They say, ‘I want to follow this Jesus, because He wants relation with me, not religion.’”
To help meet this spiritual hunger, TWR broadcasts Scripture, worship, and more through its Persian World Radio platform. (More on that here.)
“We have so much to do in this way, because all these people have [the] right to know who is the true God,” says Brother F.
If the Iranian regime stays in power after this conflict, Brother F says many people will die, including Christians. Please pray for both Israel and Iran, that many people will be saved even in the conflict. Pray for regime change in Iran, and for the Iranian people to have the freedom to follow the true God.
Header image: (2015) The anniversary of Islamic revolution is celebrated on 11 February 1979 and Iranian marches toward Azadi Tower. This political celebration held on the last day of Fajr decade. (Photo by Mostafameraji – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
