Enemy

In Time of War #2

The identity and nature of the enemy

War is fought against the enemy. In November 1979, Iranian youths invaded and seized the embassy of the United States in Tehran. With the support of the government led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the students held fifty-two hostages, including embassy officials and civilians for 444 days. The reason for the embassy takeover was that President Carter had granted the Shah Reza Pahlavi asylum for cancer treatments. The Shah had been overthrown by the Iranian people for his corrupt and brutal reign. That he was welcomed into the US was, for the revolutionary government, an inexcusable offense.

By allowing the American embassy to be seized and failing to restore it while holding diplomatic personnel hostage, the government of Iran declared its enmity against the United States. This enmity was amplified by government-supported demonstrations in the streets of Tehran with chants of “Death to America” as the “Great Satan”. Under international law, the US had legitimate cause to invade Iran to free the hostages and repossess its property, because every embassy is properly the territory of the nation it represents. That is to say, the Iranian government had allowed and even encouraged the invasion of the United States of America. From that time, Iran has continued to manifest its hatred of and opposition to the US, even to the point of attacking American soldiers serving in Iraq.

Because the sacrosanct character of embassies is essential for the peaceful relationships among nations, Iran’s takeover of the embassy and the subsequent hostage crisis was an offence not only against the United States, but also against the international community. Iran had effectively set itself against the world order. Since that time, Iran has worked to establish itself as the dominant power in the Middle East, principally by subsidizing proxy entities, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthis. These proxies use military means to weaken and destabilize the “Little Satan”—that is, Israel—and other nations in the region. With help from anti-Western powers, including North Korea, Iran began working to build up its own nuclear arsenal, which would also include ballistic delivery systems. Iran has thus proved itself to be a dangerous rogue nation in the Middle East. There is precious little evidence to indicate that this Islamic Republic of Iran has any desire or intention to live in peace with other nations in the world. It has constituted itself as a kind of universal enemy.

Iran’s behavior on the international stage is almost incomprehensible, at least by ordinary standards. (Consider: In the 1960s and 70s the United States conducted a bitter war in Vietnam, which it eventually lost with a shameful evacuation in 1975. Just recently, a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune” won a luxury vacation trip to a resort in central Vietnam.) However, the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran are not irrational. Theirs is a theocratic state, not a modern liberal polity governed according to our standards of human rights and free trade. Rather, Iran’s government is subordinate to the country’s religious leaders. The Islamic Revolution of 1978 intended to install a regime entirely submissive to the will of Allah, as this will is interpreted by scholars, the ayatollahs, of Shia Islam. Iran has morality police to arrest and punish young women whose dress does not measure up to their strict standards of modesty. This is why the regime will publicly hang young people it suspects of rebellion. Indeed, the government of Iran has brutalized its own people, killing tens of thousands of protestors in January 2026. Iran is arguably the most completely Islamist regime on earth. The Islamic Republic is the enemy of every land outside the realm of Islam and even of many within that realm.

The world’s response to this enemy

The response to an enemy must be according to their threat. In the wake of Iran’s attack on the US Embassy in 1979, President Carter would arguably have been justified in ordering a military response to seize back the Embassy and to release the hostages. It was judged, however, that such a rescue effort would have endangered the lives of the hostages. Instead, the US broke diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic and issued sanctions on the country. Similarly, when Iranian forces attacked American installations in Iraq, the United States could legitimately have launched counterattacks against those units. In short, the United States did have opportunities legitimately to engage Iranian hostility but chose not to.

Iran is arguably a threat to many other nations, funding attacks on merchant shipping and blocking the Strait of Hormuz. This is a problem that the international community should address. This does not necessarily mean the United Nations. Any alliance of nations whose shipping is affected can do this. Similarly, the ongoing destabilization of Lebanon by Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran, should be addressed by the international community. Of course, this is of particular concern to Israel, which is under constant threat from Hezbollah units operating in Lebanon. No international coalition has rallied against Iranian predations. In all these things, the United States has no longer any role. Iran does not threaten the United States. Only Israel, which Iran calls the “Little Satan” to be eliminated, has indeed fought against Iran and its proxies.

The Christian response

Islam denies the divinity of Christ, and this is the lie of the antichrist. See 1 John 2:22. Iran is an enemy of Christianity, as is any Islamist organization or movement. This is a grave issue. Arguably Iran’s theological basis is the root of its predations against its own people and the rest of the world. However, it is not the work for the United States to stop the Islamic Revolution. The USA is not the hand of God, called to smite the godless and rebellious nations or to crush militant Islam. Indeed, we have no credentials as a godly people. God is not on our side.

The mission of the Church is to bring Christ to the nations. This includes Iran, as well as Afghanistan, Eritrea, and even China. Already Christians are at work in these lands, praying, meeting to pray when they can, and even cautiously witnessing to the mercy of the Savior. (Did you know that there are specially programmed prayer apps spreading in Iran?) A half-pagan America cannot overcome the fanatical power of Islamic terrorists. With our cultural commitment to the sanctity of abortion—manifest in ongoing legal attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and against even the possibility of reversal drugs—or the billion dollar spectacle of televised sport, with the accompanying scourge of online betting, or our consumption of drugs so extensive that our nation provides the profits of powerful criminal gangs in Mexico, Colombia, and elsewhere (while our leaders piously fight them by sinking their boats). The United States of America is not the hand of God to stop the Islamic Revolution.

God is not powerless, though. By his access through the Holy Spirit to human hearts, he can invade the strictest totalitarian regimes and touch the minds of even hardened fanatics. The Holy Spirit is downright subversive in this way. And you and I are not idle bystanders. We dare not be. We have the luxury of having Bibles close at hand, freedom to enter a church, and rosaries so plentiful that you don’t even need to pay money for one.

We are free. Let us redouble our commitment to prayer. Pray for the victims of cruel religion and totalitarianism. Pray too for their leaders. The Holy Spirit can get into places that no human power can. The sword is powerless. But the Word of God can pierce to any heart.

PRAY