OPERATION ARMAGEDDON

“They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” [Revelation 16:14]

Operation Genesis, the Israeli counterpart to Operation Epic Fury, was framed as a Torah or Old Testament invocation from the outset. This was the first strike that initiated the Iran war, decapitating the regime on 28 February 2026. It introduced a biblical framing to the Iran war that has been consistently reinforced in each successive phase of the war.

There are multiple verses in Genesis that describe the covenant with God that gave the Holy Land to the descendants of Jacob, who was subsequently renamed Israel. These covenant passages in Genesis form a central justification for the modern state of Israel. In a war against Iran which disputes this core Israeli belief, the use of the name Operation Genesis reaffirms Israel’s sacred status. The name invokes an existential right of defence against a regime openly calling for its destruction.

This framing was reinforced by the first strike of the war being launched on the one day of the year that is dedicated to the biblical memory of Amalek. On Shabbat Zachor, which in 2026 fell on 28 February, the exhortation to “remember Amalek” is read out in synagogues across Israel. The decapitation strike therefore fell exactly on the annual day dedicated to the memory of the biblical Amalekites who had attacked the Israelites during their exodus out of Egypt. On this day synagogues read the Torah portion of Deuteronomy 25:17–19 commanding the Israelites to “remember what Amalek did to you” and to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

“Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt… When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” [Deuteronomy 25:17–19]

An association between Amalek and the 7 October 2023 massacre has been drawn by Netanyahu on multiple occasions, suggesting a motivation for a revenge attack on Iran timed to coincide with Shabbat Zachor. A narrative is constructed of confronting the modern embodiment of Amalek, an archetypal, irredeemable enemy seeking Israel’s destruction.

A statement by the Secretary of State Marco Rubio was delivered to reporters on Capitol Hill on 2 March after he had briefed congressional leaders. The statement clarifies that Israel was insistent on the 28 February timing forcing the U.S. to adapt its own plans and also attack on this date. There is no mention of an intelligence-led window of opportunity. If U.S. intelligence had located a unique window of opportunity then Rubio would not have used this phraseology.

“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

The date evidently held a much greater significance to Israel than the U.S. supporting the explanation that the strike was deliberately aligned with Shabbat Zachor with its Amalek remembrance symbolism. Rubio’s omission in this statement of any dramatic, last-minute intelligence trigger suggests that Israel prioritized the date for reasons other than immediate tactical intelligence.

Israel’s religious framing of the war is mirrored by the Christian nationalist ideology of Pete Hegseth, the self-titled U.S. Secretary of War. An inspiration from the Crusades is evident in Hegseth’s tattoos of the Crusader symbol of a Jerusalem cross and the tattooed inscription of “Deus Vult,” a Crusader military chant meaning “God wills it.” Consistent with these beliefs Hegseth has hosted press briefings on the Iran war with prayers invoking “the name of Jesus Christ.” Hegseth quoted at length from Psalm 144 during a Pentagon press briefing.

“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.” [Psalm 144]

Hegseth’s documented Christian nationalist beliefs create an atmosphere in which evangelical audiences can read Old Testament judgement motifs into the Iran war’s language and imagery. The rhetoric inserts the concept of divine wrath into a contemporary war, fusing modern aerial destruction to the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis.

Genesis 18 and 19 describe the fury of God as He hurls fire and brimstone onto the Cities of the Plain. The Genesis description of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah correlates with Trump’s rhetoric in his prime-time address to the nation in which he threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Ages, where they belong. Hegseth immediately reinforced the message on X by posting the central message from the address to the nation, stripped of any ambiguity or elaboration: “Back to the Stone Age.”

The term may have originated in the Vietnam war but has acquired a religious layering when applied to the Middle East. Stoning from the sky is intrinsically associated with divine wrath in Genesis 18 and 19 where the Cities of the Plain are destroyed by fire and brimstone thrown by the vengeful God. Their fate is comparable to modern guided aerial munitions directed towards Iran.

In a Trump social media post he states that he will “reign” down hell on Iran. The phrasing all hell “will reign down” directly follows Trump’s earlier “back to the Stone Age” rhetoric and escalates the ultimatum tied to the Strait of Hormuz. Immediately after the threat is the religious invocation that binds the threat to “Glory be to God!” This combination strengthens the link between the military threat and divine judgement in Genesis.

“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to God!”

The cumulative rhetoric creates a multi-layered biblical context for evangelical audiences primed in Christian nationalist, Christian Zionist and eschatological end-times beliefs. The supposed misspelling of ‘rain’ as ‘reign’ as in “Hell will reign down” could be seen as a subliminal message to an evangelical end-times audience. After the battle of Armageddon the thousand-year reign of Christ is inaugurated.

On the more extreme margins of evangelism, but still connected to the Christian nationalist and Christian Zionist base, the ‘end-times’ beliefs are consistent with the covenant granted to Israel giving the Israelites possession of the Holy Land. The extreme militarist religious rhetoric of Hegseth is inspirational to those Christian nationalists who believe that the battle of Armageddon will precipitate the second coming of Christ. Hegseth’s rhetoric resonates strongly with segments of the Christian nationalist and Christian Zionist base that view the U.S. and Israel alliance in an end-times context.

A complaint made by a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the U.S. army was provided to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. It stated that his commander had invoked Armageddon in the context of the Iran war. The commander had quoted passages from Revelation to support the concept that Trump had been anointed by Jesus to light the “signal fire” in Iran that would lead to Armageddon and the return of Christ to Earth.

“‘He (the commander) 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 NCO wrote in the email. ‘He said that President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.’” [military.com]

This documents an internal command-level instruction to service members participating in Operation Epic Fury. Internal troop briefings referencing Armageddon occurred within days of the opening strikes of the war. The biblical framing was present and being actively disseminated at the unit level almost immediately after the war began.

The codename Operation Epic Fury is remarkably consistent with the specific verses in Revelation relating to Armageddon. They describe the fury of God as the angels pour out the seven bowls of wrath. The subliminal message in the name ‘Epic Fury’ has clearly been understood by troops exposed to Christian nationalist and end-times eschatological concepts.

“Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon… The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.” [Revelation 16:16–19]

The verses of Revelation 16:1–21 (the seven bowls of God’s wrath) describe catastrophic punishments poured out from heaven, including seas turning to blood and a massive earthquake. Verse 19 states “God remembered Babylon the Great and gave the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.” The imagery of divine anger poured out in an overwhelming, world-altering scale is comparable to the aerial campaign against Iran. Promoted by Trump and Hegseth as an “obliteration” of Iranian targets, the contemporary war is wrapped in biblical catastrophic terminology.

“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.” [Revelation 14:9–10]

The biblical description of the seventh angel pouring out God’s fury in the “cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath” is echoed by the third angel that heralded Armageddon. In this section of Revelation the fury of God is described as “the wine of God’s fury.” The distilled essence of God’s fury is thus poured out on Earth. The consequence is the battle of Armageddon during which the “cities of the nations collapsed” — an explicit biblical invocation of civilizational collapse.

“The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.” [Revelation 16:19]

The collapse of “the cities of the nations” (plural) implies the collapse of civilization or civilizations, as opposed to the destruction of individual cities such as Sodom and Gomorrah. The collapse of the cities of the nations as civilizational collapse is the consequence of the battle of Armageddon in Revelation 16:16. This is directly comparable to Trump’s infamous social media post immediately before the ceasefire in which he threatens to destroy an entire civilization.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

Revelation 16:19 depicts not isolated punishment but the collapse of “cities of the nations” as part of God’s wrath poured out from above. Trump’s phrasing escalates from targeting specific infrastructure to the irreversible death of an entire civilization. “Never to be brought back again” mirrors the finality in Revelation’s judgements on Babylon and the nations. With commanders instructing troops that the war is “part of God’s divine plan,” citing Revelation and Armageddon, with Trump “anointed” by Christ to trigger it, this statement that “a whole civilization will die tonight” reads as a near-explicit echo of the apocalyptic civilizational collapse in Revelation.

The war launched on Shabbat Zachor, a “great day of God Almighty” commemorating God’s commandment to “remember Amalek,” has been defined by biblical imagery and rhetoric from its conception.

“They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” [Revelation 16:14]