American service members across every branch of the military have been told by commanders that the US-Israeli war on Iran is intended to induce the biblical end times, or Armageddon, according to complaints lodged with a US watchdog.
“This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be ‘afraid’ as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now,” a non-commissioned officer said in an emailed complaint lodged with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
“He urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God's divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ.”
The MRFF is a non-profit dedicated to ensuring religious freedom for members of the US military.
The officer who wrote to the group said he penned the message on behalf of himself and 15 other members of his unit who were all stationed in the region in a “ready-support” function.
Anadolu obtained a copy of the complaint from the MRFF after independent journalist Jonathan Larsen first reported on the matter.
The officer’s message was one of over 200 the foundation has received across more than 50 military units since Saturday when US President Donald Trump announced the beginning of sweeping strikes against Iran, a military offensive the US is embarking on alongside Israel.
Trump has repeatedly vacillated when commenting publicly on his aims for the war on Iran, saying on Saturday in a brief telephone interview with The Washington Post newspaper that his intention was to bring “freedom” to the Iranian people — a thinly veiled reference to regime change.
The objectives whipsawed over the following days, even as Trump has called on Iranians to “take back their country” from the revolutionary government that has led the country since 1979.
The US mission in Iran, as now defined, is to eliminate Iran’s conventional ballistic missile programme and its Navy, bring an end to Tehran’s regional proxy network and ensure it can never achieve a nuclear weapon — a long-stated goal across multiple US administrations. Iran has long publicly rejected allegations that it seeks to develop a nuclear weapon.
The officer, whose identity was withheld by the foundation out of concern of retribution from the Pentagon, said the commander further told the unit that Trump “has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”
“He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy. Our commander would probably be described as a ‘Christian First’ supporter,” the officer, who identifies as Christian, said.
“He has been this way for a very long time and makes it clear that he desires all of us under him to become just like him as a Christian. But what he did this morning was so toxic and over the line that it shocked many of us in attendance at the ops readiness briefing,” he added.
Anadolu sent multiple requests for comment to the Pentagon, but none received responses till the time of publication.
Religious overtones have run high in the Israeli-US attack. A day into the offensive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced a Torah command comparing the Iranian regime to an ancient biblical foe — one that has also been invoked in reference to Palestinians.
“We read in this week’s Torah portion, ‘Remember what Amalek did to you.’ We remember—and we act,” he said during a visit to a site struck by an Iranian missile.
The Amalekites are described in the Hebrew Bible as a persistent adversary of the Israelites and are associated with a Torah commandment to erase their memory.
Rising religious rhetoric: 'An immediate threat'
Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and legal counsel with the Ronald Reagan White House, now serves as the president of the MRFF. He said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has taken a jackhammer to long-standing barriers between church and state at the Pentagon since he assumed office last year.
"MAGA have destroyed this. Their approved solution is to be straight, white, Christian and male. And that's bad enough when you find Christian nationalism in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges, right? Legislatures, the cops, the firefighters, the sewage workers," said Weinstein.
"But when you find it where all the nuclear weapons are, and laser-guided weapons and the drones, it is an absolute threat, an immediate threat, not a shift, but an immediate threat to the national security of our country and the world," he added.
Part of Hegseth’s injection of religion into the Pentagon has been regular monthly prayer gatherings that have recently featured Doug Wilson, a far-right evangelical Christian nationalist who has defended slavery, called for a reversal in women’s rights, and proposed the US becoming a theocracy.
“What Hegseth has done has been to rip asunder the very essence of our US military, destroying what our US Supreme Court has determined to be the compelling governmental interest when it comes to the First Amendment in our military, which is to maximise its lethality, and you do that by maximising good order, morale, discipline, unit cohesion, health and safety of the troops and mission accomplishment,” said Weinstein.
Injecting Christian nationalism into a multi-racial and multi-religious military is at stark odds with its long-standing underpinnings.
That overhaul, he added, has contributed to the dramatic spike in complaints the foundation has received following Trump's decision to begin war with Iran.
“It’s exploding,” Weinstein said of the volume of outreach to his office. “Now that the ice has broken, we’re being flooded.”
