A claim (archived) circulated online in early March 2026 that U.S. military commanders told troops that attacks on Iran were part of a Christian war to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus.
Allegations followed joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The strikes continued into March, as U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters on March 10 that the day would be the "most intense day of strikes inside Iran." One Facebook user who shared the claim wrote:
Over 200 active-duty service members, spanning every branch of the military across more than 50 installations, reported to a military watchdog group that their commanders told them the war in Iran is divinely ordained. One commander reportedly told troops that Donald Trump "has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth."
The claim also circulated on Instagram (archived), X (archived), Threads (archived) and Bluesky (archived). Snopes readers searched our site for more information about the claim.
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."
On March 6, three days after Weinstein told Snopes he had received more than 200 complaints about religious messaging to U.S. troops, Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan and 29 other lawmakers wrote to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense to call for an investigation in the complaints the MRFF flagged.
At the time of this writing, it was unclear whether the Defense Department would investigate the complaints as requested.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.