If you’re wondering why Iran has been tenaciously pursuing nuclear weapons and why Barack Obama and Joe Biden were wrong to appease them while Donald Trump was right to strike their facilities, Michael Youssef, an Egyptian-born pastor in Atlanta, offers some theological insights regarding Iran’s eschatology.

Allow me to explain why they’re wrong and why Iran’s relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons left Israel and the United States with no choice but to act … and act decisively.

A state of hostility has existed between Israel and Iran for almost 45 years, ever since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. As a result, “Death to Israel” has been not merely a slogan, but the goal of the Islamic Republic of Iran. …

Few Westerners understand how the tensions between Iran and Israel have largely been driven by the fanatical theological beliefs of Iran’s ruling elite. We need to understand why Shiite Islam — the dominant belief system of Iran — makes Cold War models of nuclear deterrence obsolete.

Islam is not a monolithic faith, neither is Christianity. Much of Christianity is divided into Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox branches, while Islam is also deeply divided — most significantly between Sunnis and Shiites. The divisions within Islam, however, are far more violent than any disagreements within present-day Christianity, and have produced centuries of war and death.

The schisms within Islam date back to the death of Muhammad in AD 632, when a dispute arose over who should lead the Muslim community. Sunnis supported Abu Bakr, a companion of Muhammad. Shiites backed Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali. This dispute produced a violent split that has raged for nearly fourteen centuries.

The defining moment in Shiite history was the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in AD 680. Hussein was killed by forces loyal to the Sunni-dominated Umayyad Caliphate. To Shiites, Karbala still symbolizes righteous resistance against oppression and false doctrine. Some Shia movements consider themselves divinely appointed minorities struggling against corrupt Sunni majorities. Shiites comprise only 10 to 15% of the Muslim world. Iran, however, has been a Shiite stronghold since 1501, when the Safavid dynasty declared Twelver Shiism the state religion of Persia. Twelver Shiism is centered on the belief in the Twelfth Imam (the Mahdi). According to Twelver belief, there were twelve Imams (rightful successors to Muhammad, all from Ali’s lineage). The twelfth was Muhammad al-Mahdi, who supposedly went into occultation (miraculous hiddenness) as a child in the 9th century. Twelvers believe the Twelfth Imam is still alive and will one day come forth to impose Islamic rule over the world.

Here’s where Iran’s present-day nuclear doctrines meet Iran’s ancient theological doctrines: Some factions within Iran’s clerical leadership believe that the Mahdi’s return will be hastened by global destruction and war. These radical scholars teach that apocalyptic war is a necessary requirement for the Mahdi to be revealed. In this view, Iran’s struggle against Israel and Western civilization is part of a divine plan for return of the Mahdi.

This theological doctrine makes a nuclear-armed Iran unthinkably dangerous. During the Cold War, the logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) kept nuclear superpowers from attacking each other, because any nuclear attack would invite annihilation.

But if Iran’s leaders believe that nuclear war would hasten the return of a long-prophesied messiah-figure, they would actually be highly motivated to start a nuclear war, regardless of the consequences. Iran’s apocalyptic clerics have a powerful incentive to pull the nuclear trigger — the fulfillment of ancient prophecies and the establishment of a global caliphate.

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