Religion may be at the root of the Iran war

Dear Editor,

KN’s Sunday, April 5, 2026, article, “Iran rejects Trump’s ‘helpless, stupid’ 48-hour ultimatum,” sourced to AFP (Agence France-Presse/The Telegraph), is not just another in KN’s long-running coverage of the Israel-related fighting in the Middle East, for the edification of Guyanese readers. It could portend ominously darkening clouds forming and gathering winds of war howling if Iran’s reaction to Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum goes awry.

From a global perspective, what is happening today in Iran was, by most accounts, because only eight months earlier, June 2025, the United States and Israel launched ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’, which saw targeted strikes that reportedly caused severe damages to Iran’s nuclear research and development sites at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. After the strikes, President Donald Trump used the word ‘obliterate’ to describe the successful outcome of the exercise against Iran’s capacity for nuclear development. It was use of the word ‘obliterate’ – as in destroy utterly or wipe out – that would later raise serious questions about the true motive for launching yet another attack on February 28, 2026.

As spirited debates swirled among U.S politicians, retired military top brass, and media analysts about whether the United States or Israel was behind the attack, it was Secretary of State Mark Rubio who sought to clear the air on March 2, 2026, saying the U.S launched pre-emptive strikes because it knew Israel was planning an imminent attack, which, in turn, could prompt Iran to retaliate against U.S interests, leading to higher U.S casualties. That revelation created an uproar and, after some pushback, backlash and questions from both supporters and critics, there were attempts by government officials to change the narrative and tone, but the damage was already done as Israel started emerging in the media as the principal protagonist.

Observers then started asking why Israel would want to launch another attack only eight months after the June 2025 attacks that reportedly obliterated Iran’s nuclear threats? And as the one-day assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei and his top brass turned into days of war, observers also started asking why the United States and Israeli military couldn’t have replicated in Iran the spectacular tactical capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (January 3, 2026), without a declaration of war and limiting the loss of lives?

With the war having just entered its sixth week, the launch date of February 28, 2026, may hold a deeply provocative clue that religion might be the true reason, thus making this possibly a religious war that military warfare cannot readily resolve. Based on the Jewish lunar calendar, either late February or early March every year, Israel observes and celebrates a religious holiday known as Purim, which remembers the deliverance of Persian Jews from death by a royal decree.

The storyline, which is found in the Book of Esther (Christian Bible) and the Jewish Tanakh and Ketuvim, details the plot by a prominent figure, Prime Minister Minister Haman, in the Persian Empire (government), to execute all the Jews in the land. The plot was uncovered and foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai, both Jews, and the table was turned against Haman and his supporters who died by the very means they contrived to eradicate the Jews.

Fast forward to February 27 and 28, which happened to be the Sabbath before the Jews celebrated their upcoming religious holiday, Purim, on March 2 and 3. On Saturday, February 28, around 10:00 hours, Iran time, the United States and Israel launched their surprise daytime kinetic attacks on Iran’s leadership and military facilities. While the religious element may arguably be found, on the one hand, in the timing of Netanyahu’s motive, it was the Ayatollah Khamenei’s long-running threats to ‘annihilate’ Israel and wipe it off the map, on the other hand, that may have been used as the reason, even though most experts still argue Iran did not pose an imminent threat prior to February 28.

With Iran’s irrevocable commitment to destruction of Israel, which was reborn a state on May 14, 1948, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu probably saw the timing of his February 28 attack from a religious perspective and linked it to ancient plot to wipe out the Jews in Persia. Ironically, Persia was the ancient name until 1935, when it was changed to Iran.

Editor, not very many people will believe or even agree that religion is at the root of the fighting in the Middle East, but when you check the Jews’ Torah and Muslim’s Quran, both identify Abraham as their progenitor or foundational patriarch, but with an eventual divergence of religious legacies leading to the divine Abrahamic promises that include the Promised Land. It is indeed tragic that so many lives are being lost (and will likely continue) in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and elsewhere, but neither human diplomatic efforts nor military warfare can resolve what clearly requires divine intervention.