In March 2026, after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran that killed the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a claim (archived) circulated online that U.S. military commanders told troops that attacks were part of a Christian war to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus.
One Facebook post that shared the claim featured a quote from a Substack article (archived) that read: "A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God's plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was 'anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,' according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer."
Claims also circulated on X (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Many Snopes readers wrote in, asking whether the claimed message to troops was true.
The claim came from reporting by the independent journalist Jonathan Larsen, who also writes the commentary Substack "The F***ing News." Larsen based his report on information from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to protect religious freedom in the U.S. armed forces.
According to Larsen's report, an anonymous service member had complained to the MRFF that one commander reportedly told troops, "President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth." Larsen reported that MRFF kept complaints anonymous to protect complainants from backlash.
Armageddon is the name of a biblical place where, according to the Bible, the kings of earth lead by demons would wage war on the forces of God. According to the Book of Revelation, Jesus would return during this fight, also known as the Second Coming.
Snopes does not rely on anonymous sources in our reporting. Larsen and Mikey Weinstein, the MRFF founder, both said they had not received any video or audio recordings of the reported Christian messaging by commanders. Therefore, we leave this claim unrated.
We contacted the Department of Defense for its comment on the Larsen's reporting and the information from the MRFF and await a reply.
Weinstein told Snopes that by the morning of March 3 the MRFF had received around 200 complaints about commanders invoking Christian messaging to describe U.S. action in Iran.
Weinstein previously told Larsen the organization received more than 110 such complaints between Feb. 28 and March 2, 2026. Those complaints came from "more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations" across "every branch" of the military, Larsen reported, citing the MRFF.
Reason behind reported Christian messaging unclear
Because the Department of Defense had not returned requests for comment by Snopes or Larsen at the time of this writing, it was unclear whether the Pentagon had directed commanders to use Christian messaging about the strikes on Iran.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a Christian. In May 2025, he introduced (archived) a monthly Christian prayer service at the Pentagon, and he sometimes invokes his faith during interviews and appearances.
During a March 2, 2026, news conference, Hegseth said (archived) the focus of U.S. strikes in Iran was to "destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure and they will never have nuclear weapons."
Hegseth did not say during that news conference that the war in Iran was a religious war.
DOD allows some religious expression
In a statement reported by Larsen, Weinstein urged members of the military who used Christian messaging to describe strikes in Iran to remember that "their oath is SOLELY to the United States Constitution, which includes both a full separation of church and state mandate in the First Amendment."
The oath Weinstein referred to was the Oath of Enlistment, in which a person enlisting into the military swears to protect the U.S. Constitution and follow orders from commanding officers and the president.
The First Amendment secures the rights to freedom of religion and speech and the rights to assemble and petition Congress.
Weinstein also said members of the military who engaged in Christian messaging should be "swiftly, aggressively and visibly prosecuted for numerous violations of the military criminal code known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice" the federal law governing the military. Weinstein's statement did not specify which parts of the code he thought commanders who employed Christian messaging to talk about the war in Iran had breached. Code breaches can result in prosecution under the code's criminal justice system.
According to one DOD policy document (Section 1.2.b):
Components will accommodate individual expressions of sincerely held beliefs (conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs) which do not have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, good order and discipline, or health and safety.
The complaint that Larsen included in his report specifically said the Christian messaging destroyed "morale and unit cohesion."
At the time of this writing, it was unclear whether the Defense Department would investigate complaints received by the MRFF.
Weinstein told Snopes that before the Trump administrations, the Pentagon was responsive to complaints brought by the MRFF but that was no longer the case. Instead, Weinstein said, the foundation employed a "Chronicle, Expose, Intervene, Attack" strategy to attempt to mount public pressure on the department and Hegseth to address the complaints.
Snopes has reported extensively on claims related to Hegseth in the past, including whether his tattoos have religious or political associations.