Iran’s Response

Iran responded by firing missiles and drones against Israel, US bases and many of the other Arab nations in the region. In fact, the Iranians have attacked Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. Earlier today (Saturday 7th March), Iran’s president apologies to their neighbours for the recent strikes against them. The President explained that these attacks were carried out under “fire at will” instructed after the initial wave of strikes killed senior Iranian commanders. However, currently, Iran are still firing missiles towards those Arab nations. Iran have said their 88 member committee is convening on Sunday to pick a new supreme leader, after the IDF targeted the building where they were due to meet on Tuesday. However, the number of ballistic missiles being fired from Iran against Israel has been dropping. They reported fired 100 on the first day, 60 on the second day - and from the third day onwards, its been around 20 per day. Today, Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed that Israel and United States had nearly achieved total control over Iranian airspace in a Saturday evening address to the nation. He also said “As I promised two days after October 7, we are changing the face of the Middle East. But it’s not only the face of the Middle East; it’s also us. Our initiative and surprising actions are dramatically changing the balance of power between our enemy and us”. Also today, Israel have hit an oil refinery in Iran - something that will weaken the country regardless of which regime may take over in the long run. It is possible that Israel’s own strategy is more in line ensuring that Iran can never be a threat again, no matter which regime takes control at the end of this. 

Iran’s ring of fire has collapsed

As discussed on the Bible Magazine’s unscripted conversation, Iran’s ring of fire, referring to all the terrorist proxies it funded in the region, has now collapsed. Before October 7th, this strike against Iran would not have been possible. Any strike would have resulted in all hell breaking loose from Hezbollah, Hamas, probably Syria and even further afield. However, after the horrific events of October 7th, Hamas, as a threat, has been neutralised, for the most part. After this, Hezbollah, in Lebanon were decimated after the IDF ingeniously assassinated Nasrallah, the leader of the organisation, and took out thew whole of their senior leadership with the pager bombs. Then Assad fell in Syria, and the Houthis were bombed in Yemen - meaning Iran has run out of allies, or terror proxies in the region. This means that the threat posed to Israel’s security, in the long run, has hugely decreased. As Netanyahu said, the face of the middle east certainly is changing - we are living in historic times. Earlier this week, during an interview with FOX news, Netanyahu said, “You're not going to have an endless war…This terror regime in Iran is at the weakest point that it's been since it hijacked Iran from the brave Iranian people 47 years ago. So this is going to be a quick and decisive action…If we go through what we plan to do, I think it will create conditions for peace," the prime minister said. "This is not an endless war. This is, in fact, something that will usher in an era of peace that we haven't even dreamed of. So this is a gateway for peace, for broader peace. And I believe that we can achieve it”. 

Since Iran attacked all of the gulf states in their response, this may well result in a huge change with Israel’s neighbours in the future. There have been many headlines reporting on Iran’s strikes in the gulf states, and how this could push them closer to Israel, and closer to diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. While the UAE and Bahrain have joined the Abraham accords, the real goal would ultimately be that Saudi Arabia joined this peace agreement. 

The Latter Days

The Bible describes a period of time called the latter days. This is a theme, throughout the prophets that speaks of the time just before and including the return of Christ to the earth. This time period begins when the nation of Israel return to their land, after their captivity and scattering throughout all nations. Because there are so many passages that describe this period of “the latter days”, there’s lots of things that we can learn about the situation and alignment of the nations in the time just before Jesus returns. This is the reason why bible students have long since been interested in the current events. We can see the miraculous preservation of God’s people, the Jewish people in history, and we can also see their miraculous return to the land. If the Bible prophesied something as unpredictable and unlikely as that, why wouldn’t we place credibility on the the rest of what those bible passages have to say? 

Ezekiel 38 described this latter day period of time - when the nation of Israel are back in the land. It is a prophecy about a gathering of nations that will come against God’s people. The nations referenced in the prophecy largely correspond to the area of Russia and Europe among other places. Iran is one of the nations that joins this group of nations when they attack Israel in the latter days. This means that we can conclude from this passage, that Iran likely doesn’t have the strength to attack or annihilate Israel by itself - its reliant on the other nations around it who are also part of this coalition. The prophecy also describes a situation of calm before the storm. Before Israel is attacked by the invader, there is a period of peace, where, on the mountains of Israel, cities are unwalled, and the people are dwelling safely. While we have seen so many elements of latter day property coming to pass, we have yet to see any peace on the mountains of Israel. 

Bible Students have been looking for this situation of peace for centuries at this point. For example, John Thomas, the founder of the Christadelphian movement, wrote a book called Elpis Israel in 1849. He demonstrated from Bible prophecy, that the Jews would return home, long before the Zionist movement even began. 

And not only this, he speculated on how this situation of peace may arise upon the mountains of Israel: “Before Gogue invades their country, it is described by the prophet as “a land of unwalled villages, whose inhabitants are at rest, and dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; and possess of silver and gold, cattle and goods, dwelling in the midst of the land” (Eze 38:11-3). Now any person acquainted with the present insecure condition of Palestine under the Ottoman dominion must be satisfied from the testimony, that some other power friendly to Israel must then have become paramount over the land, which is able to guarantee protection to them” (Elpis Israel, Page 455). He goes on to suggest that Britain (as the Tarshish power of Ezekiel 38) would play this role of protection. Currently, America has taken over this role. Its also possible that Israel has gained so much strength, that they may be able to guarantee their own security to a limited extent. Up until the 28th of February 2026, Iran was the head of an evil octopus of terrorist proxies in the middle east, working to thwart any opportunity for Israel to live in peace and prosperity. While many of those proxies had been weakened, the antiseptic regime in Iran was still very much alive and kicking. This is seemingly no longer the case. 

We don’t know what will happen in Iran. No one really knows what will happen in Iran. But whether Trump’s foreign policy is a success or not, whether Iran becomes a democracy or descend into chaos - whichever way it goes, Iran has been greatly reduced as a threat to Israel. And not only that, Israel and the gulf states have suddenly found themselves in the same side of a war with Iran. Could this eventually bring the peace prophecies by Ezekiel 2600 years ago? 
This has been Daniel Blackburn joining you for this week's edition of Bible in the News.