Orange Iran cross

Andrea Austria/Media Matters

Right-wing Christian media double down on supporting Trump's Iran war: “King David himself did this when he found himself dealing with a nation that was barbaric”

Trump and Pete Hegseth have framed the war in religious terms, including Hegseth claiming that military operations are being “carried out under the protection of divine providence”

Written by Payton Armstrong

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Some right-wing Christian media figures are continuing their support for President Donald Trump’s war with Iran even as some within the broader right-wing media ecosystem have split with the administration.

These right-wing Christian media personalities — including several prophetic figures who claim to share prophecies, or messages from God, with their audiences — have celebrated that “God was brought in” by Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in public messaging of the war, and claimed that “we are on God's side” so “whatever we do would have His blessing.”

Indeed, Trump and Hegseth have sometimes framed the war in religious terms, drawing support from right-wing Christian media figures, for whom Iran is reportedly “not just a strategic adversary but part of a prophetic story.”

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  • Trump has sometimes framed the Iran war in religious terms, drawing support from Christian outlets while the broader right-wing media sphere has been split on the conflict

    • At the start of the Iran war, right-wing Christian media figures celebrated that it could signal the “End Times” and claimed “we are watching incredible prophecy in this time come to pass.” Right-wing Christian media celebrated the start of Trump’s war with Iran as a fulfillment of prophecy, claiming that Trump is “literally becoming Cyrus the Great” and that “the return of Jesus is back on the menu.” [Media Matters, 3/4/26]
    • Hegseth and Trump have sometimes framed the war against Iran in religious terms. As The New York Times reported, Hegseth has “invok[ed] Christian theology in public statements about the war with Iran,” including urging the American public to pray “every day, on bended knee” for a military victory in the Middle East “in the name of Jesus Christ.” During an April 6 press conference after an F-15 fighter crew was rescued from Iran, Hegseth said, “God deserves all the glory. … Tens of thousands of sorties, refuelings and strikes carried out under the protection of divine providence. A massive effort with miraculous protection.” Trump has suggested God would approve of the war “because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of.” On Truth Social over Easter weekend, Trump warned that unless the Iranians open the Strait of Hormuz, “all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!” The next day, on Easter, his account wrote: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” [The New York Times, 3/20/26, 4/6/26; The Associated Press, 4/10/26; The Hill, 4/5/26; AL.com, 4/8/26; BBC, 4/6/26]
    • Shortly after criticizing Pope Leo XIV as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” on Truth Social, Trump posted an image of himself as a Jesus-like figure. Forbes reported: “Following backlash from conservative Christian supporters after posting a seemingly AI-generated image of himself in the likeness of Jesus Christ healing the sick, President Donald Trump appeared to remove the image Monday.” Trump's criticism came amid “a series of pounding critiques on the Iran war” from Pope Leo XIV, The Washington Post explained, while “at the same time, Leo’s top lieutenants in the United States are issuing new and remarkable calls for American Catholics to resist the war.” [Forbes, 4/13/26; YouTube, Forbes Breaking News, 4/13/26; The Washington Post, 4/13/26; CBS News, 4/13/26]
    • The Intercept: “By making Iran into a religious crusade, Trump’s spiritual advisers are making the war that much more difficult to end.” The Intercept reported: “In evangelical media ecosystems, Iran is not just a strategic adversary but part of a prophetic story — one tied to interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the battle of Armageddon. Suffering, in this worldview, is not merely tragic; it is necessary to actuate the return of Christ. ... There is a long body of research showing that when political power fuses with religious certainty, war intensifies. Religious framing makes wars far more difficult to end, not easier. Conflicts become existential, not negotiable. Identity replaces strategy. Destiny replaces diplomacy.” [The Intercept, 4/4/26]
    • Pundits in the broader right-wing media ecosystem have been split over Trump’s Iran war. At the beginning of the war, right-wing media figures questioned whether Israel dragged the U.S. into war, with some saying Trump “fell in line” with Israel and others declaring, “Nobody drags Donald Trump into anything.” As a ceasefire was announced on April 7, some figures claimed that Trump “negotiated the deal of his life,” while others argued he “chickened out again” and warned the deal “could be an amazing victory for Iran.” [Media Matters, 4/8/26, 3/9/26]

  • Right-wing Christian media figures continue support for Trump’s Iran war, claiming “the unseen hand of God is moving” and “we are on God's side” so “whatever we do would have His blessing”

    • Self-described “prophet” Hank Kunneman cheered that “God was brought in” by Trump and Hegseth in their public messaging on the war. Kunneman — who prophesied that Trump would win in 2020 and claimed in 2021 that Trump had not yet been restored to the White House because God wants to make it look like the prophets are wrong — celebrated Hegseth crediting God with the F-15 crew’s rescue and said: “You look at the history of the kings that serve God throughout Israel's history, especially and whenever they would honor God like you heard in President Trump and Pete Hegseth, it was amazing. God was brought in. It does something of supernatural preservation and intervention.” [YouTube, FlashPoint, 4/6/26; Media Matters, 7/18/23; Right Wing Watch, 1/20/21, 9/8/21; Newsweek, 6/11/21; Elijah’s List, 11/9/20]
    • Trump ally Amanda Grace, who regularly shares prophecies that she claims are messages from God, agreed with pastor Jackson Lahmeyer that the “unseen hand of God is moving, and that gives me confidence everything's going to be all right.” Lahmeyer, a member of Trump’s National Faith Advisory Board who recently announced he is running for Congress in Oklahoma, claimed, “We're seeing the unseen hand of God is moving, and that gives me confidence everything's going to be all right. The providence of God is operating like He always has. … We may not know how all of this will unfold, but we do know that the Lord is highly involved.” [YouTube, Ark of Grace Ministries, 4/7/26; NOTUS, 3/24/26; Media Matters, 5/30/24; Charisma magazine, 10/16/23, 3/14/23, 3/31/26, 4/10/26]
    • Grace later compared Trump to David in the Bible employing a “madman strategy” against Iran and, after mentioning Trump’s Easter weekend threat to strike bridges and power plants, said “we see David actually do something similar in scripture.” Grace told her audience: “We're going to talk about President Trump and how it ties to David. We are going to talk about why he's doing this and how King David himself did this when he found himself dealing with a nation that was barbaric. With a nation that was pagan. With a nation that wanted to see his people destroyed.” [YouTube, Ark of Grace Ministries, 4/7/26]
    • Right-wing Christian radio host Eric Metaxas, who sits on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, said “there's something beautiful about this nation” that its people “want God's will to be done. … We are on God's side, and that whatever we do would have His blessing.” Metaxas — who has pushed Christian nationalism and argued for conservative Christians to stage an “infiltration” of government — said the war with Iran is “a legitimate war, not Israel's war,” and later explained, “There's something beautiful about this nation because this nation always has had people, not all, but a lot of people who pray and who want God's will to be done. Not that we win, but that God wins, that we are on God's side, and that whatever we do would have His blessing. We're not interested in merely winning because many people in America are sincere Christians who are wise enough to know you don't want to win if you're not on God's side.” [Salem Media, The Eric Metaxas Show, 4/6/26; Media Matters, 7/12/23, 6/12/25]
    • On Metaxas’ show, conservative author John Zmirak said he felt “vindicated” in supporting the war and fearmongered about “a regime run by end-of-the-world fanatics who believe that a destructive global war would bring on the Islamic second coming.” Zmirak said: “Think about a regime run by end-of-the-world fanatics who believe that a destructive global war would bring on the Islamic second coming, if you will, the Islamic apocalypse. And them having nuclear weapons and missiles that could reach Paris and Rome and Vienna.” [YouTube, The Eric Metaxas Show, 4/3/26; The Stream, accessed 4/14/26]
    • Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson, who is closely connected to Hegseth and was invited to lead a February worship service at the Pentagon, lashed out at critics who “want us to intervene and ‘make Pete stop it’” and said it would be “way out of line” to provide Hegseth with policy advice. Hegseth reportedly attends a church that belongs to Wilson’s denomination and during the worship service, he thanked Wilson for his “mentorship” and his “willingness to be bold.” Wilson — who CNN’s Pamela Brown has noted, “started a movement from Idaho to turn the world into a Christian theocracy based on a strict biblical interpretation” — wrote on his blog that “we either trust him or we don’t. It should be obvious that I do,” adding: “Think for a minute. Do these same critics really want me or any of my fellow pastors—with no background on the intel, with no military training at this level, with no security clearance, and with no basis for sticking our noses into the internal workings of the Pentagon—to be giving Pete any specific policy advice? That would be what keen observers would call way out of line.” [Blog & Mablog, 4/8/26; The Columbian, 2/19/26; The Bulwark, 3/18/26; Instagram, 8/7/25]
    • ElijahStreams host Steve Shultz and self-described “prophet” Robin Bullock said the war was predicted in “the prophecies” that God is “going to free the Iranian people.” Shultz, who has interviewed members of the Trump family on the show, said, “When I see people say, well, this is because Trump did this or wants to do that, this is about this oil and that oil, this is about the deep state — and it may involve all of those things that I just said … but the prophecies majored on ‘I'm going to free the Iranian people.’ The prophecies were making a big deal out of all those other things might have been going on, but God had heard the cries just like he heard the cries of the people in Israel when he visited Moses.” Bullock replied, “And the prophecies that were given were given way ahead of that, way ahead of that, and I don't know why I'm saying it really at the time. I just said boom, boom, this is going to happen and the Persian people will be free.” Bullock — who repeatedly prophesied that Trump would win reelection in 2020 and has previously claimed “Trump was anointed to be king” — now compared the president’s actions to biblical descriptions of Cyrus the Great: “You'll see exactly where Trump and what he's doing.” [Rumble, ElijahStreams, 4/9/26; Media Matters, 10/18/24, 5/30/24; Right Wing Watch, 1/20/21, 7/27/23]