CRY FREEDOM.net
formerly known as
Women's Liberation Front
'Insight is the first step of resistance against any ideologic form of dictatorial and misogynistic oppression'

Manifest - Oct 26, 2025
Slaughterhouse Rape

Manifest - Start August 31, 2025
Matriarchism is alive and kicking
UPDATE with New Story: Sept 19, 2025:
Tunisian women react to gender remarks: A consequence of patriarchal mentality
Earlier stories embedded:
Sept 10, 2025: Rûken Nexede on ‘Jin Jiyan Azadî’: Philosophy of freedom, equality
And “How Fiercely We Cling to Life” – A Prison Letter from Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee

Manifest - Axis of Evil - J´Accuse :-)
August 8 025

Tribute to KIAN PIRFALA, 9 years old and victim of the Islamic Republic's savagery 10 years ago

Editors' info: About a possible change of the name of the outlet:
and no, the URL www.cryfreedom.net will not change in this. Too much hassles and as such the outlet
is too well known to run that risk. Still, to enhance the content of it the
name online will be incl. a logo named
´Woman, Life, Freedom - MENA News Agency
covering the news from the Middle East and North Africa and covering all the Arabic muslim world.
Any feedback, negative or positive, on this is more than welcome at info@cryfreedom.net
Thank you for your time and input.

 HEAR JINA AMINI'S VOICE
And do read also the above linked  incredible December 2023 update!

despite the mullahs' regime to force it down!
Her mother speaks out loud and clear
UPDATED: September 29 - 16, 2024
Second Anniversary of Jina Amini's
state-sanctioned murder
incl. Commemorating Bloody Friday
a wave of arrests of her fellow-citizen

Overview of news about the Second aniversary of Jina Amini's state-sactioned murder September 2024


JINA AMINI
The face of Iran's protests. Her life, her dreams and her death.

Read also: Armita's Story: Iran's Generation Z Rebellion Against the Ayatollahs

Ongoing since Oct. 3, 2024:
Commemoration of the Fallen for
Freedom Part6
 Click here for previous Commemorations  
And more commemorational stories
Tortured to Death: The Story of Atefeh Na'ami
Violence During Woman, Life, Freedom Protests

HAIL TO THE IRANIAN WOMEN'S REVOLUTIONISTS FALLEN FOR FREDOM
against the supreme leader, the arch-reactionary Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, and his placeman president. The message of the women when the former president visited a university was plain: <give way or get lost> in 2023 and still is.
IN MEMORY OF ASRA PANAHI (16)- JINA MAMINI (22) - NIKA SHAKARAMI (16), SARINA ESMAILZADEH (16) HADIS NAJAFI (20), AND MORE WOMEN WHO WERE ASSASINATED SO FAR BY THE IRANIAN AXIS OF EVIL.
  Click here for a total list so far
Updates March 6 - 5, 2026

UPDATES OF THE UPRISING  AND REVOLUTION AROUND THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF JINA AMINI IN CUSTODY OF THE REGIME'S ATTEMPT AND CRUELTY TO TRY AND CRUSH IT.

This links to a page that is in full dedicated and a tribute to Jina Amini who, with stilll 'till today too many other sisters gave their life for freedom. Long live a long and free Iran And do read also the above linked  incredible December 2023 update! despite the mullahs' regime to force it down! Her mother speaks out loud and clear UPDATED: September 18, 2025 Full story of the Third anniversary of Jina Amini´s death September 29 - 16, 2024 Second Anniversary of Jina Amini's state-sanctioned murder incl. Commemorating Bloody Friday and earlier news about a wave of arrests of her fellow-citizen

We all grief for the loss of our sister / daughter of Iran Armita Gevarnand:   Read her updated story here   & Actual news:  Generation Z Leads Hijab Rebellion on Tehran’s Streets and Earlier Stories and more

Sisters 4 each other - Sisters 4 All
UPDATE
Feb 11 - 6, 2025
“Iran Will Not Return to the Throne”
& Women’s Revolution…
Freedom Embodied in Reality
Earlier reports
Dec 31 - 24, 2025
More than 400 Prominent Women
and UN Demand Halt to Execution
of Political Prisoner Zahra Tabari
& Maryam Akbari Monfared,
A Brave Woman Standing
Like a Mountain Against All Odds
Earlier reports

Sisters 4 each other, Sisters 4 All
Narges Mohammadi: "Tyranny will fall"
Pakhshan Azizi: "You dictator, I am Arash, fire responds to fire,"
Sharifeh Mohammadi: "Finally, one day, I will sing the song of victory from the summit of the mountain, like the sun. Tomorrow belongs to us"
Varisha Moradi: "Resistance is life"
 in continuation of the resistance of the 4 sisters and others
read all their previous fights

 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
 and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

Symbol of resistance of Iranian women
Narges Mohammadi - Jina Amini : "With war there cannot be democracy"

Jina Amini Leads

We Are The People and at full war with 2 regimes but...
we'll continue our way and any way we'll pave

Preface by editor: No one can bomb any country into democracy
especially when the attackers are un-democratic themsemselves,
to say the least.


Al Jazeera - March 6, 2026 By Alexander Clackson Founder and director of the Global Political Research Center.
{A weak Iran would backfire on the United States
Destabilising Iran risks triggering internal fragmentation, regional instability and global economic shock. Supporters of the United States and Israeli military campaign against Iran argue that weakening Tehran by degrading its missile capabilities, crippling its navy and reducing its ability to project power through regional allies will make the Middle East safer. But this strategy rests on an assumption that a weaker Iran would produce a more stable region. In reality, destabilising one of the Middle East’s largest and most strategically important states could unleash forces far more dangerous than the status quo. According to briefings provided to congressional staff in Washington, DC, there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was planning to attack the US. Yet military escalation continues in the belief that weakening Iran will ultimately serve US interests. If that assumption proves wrong, the consequences could be severe not only for the region but also for American strategic interests. The first danger is internal fragmentation. Iran’s population is ethnically diverse. While Persians form the majority, the country is also home to large Azeri, Kurdish, Arab and Baloch communities, among others. Several of these groups already have histories of political tension or insurgency, including Kurdish militant activity in the northwest and a long-running Baloch insurgency in the southeast. A strong central state has largely kept these fault lines contained. But if Iran’s governing structures weaken significantly, those tensions could intensify. The result could resemble the fragmentation seen in other Middle Eastern states after external military pressure or regime collapse. Recent history offers sobering examples. In Iraq, the dismantling of state institutions after the 2003 US invasion created the conditions for years of sectarian violence and ultimately the rise of ISIL (ISIS). Libya’s state collapse in 2011 left the country divided between rival governments and armed militias, a crisis that persists more than a decade later. Syria’s civil war produced one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the century while turning large swaths of territory into battlegrounds for militias and extremist groups. At the height of the conflict, ISIS was able to seize and govern territory across eastern Syria, declaring a so-called caliphate that controlled millions of people.
Iran’s collapse would produce an even more dangerous scenario. Its population is far larger than Iraq, Libya or Syria, and its territory borders multiple conflict-prone regions. The emergence of armed factions, ethnic militias or insurgent groups inside Iran could quickly transform the country into another arena of prolonged instability. Such instability would not remain local. Iran sits at the heart of the Gulf, one of the world’s most strategically important energy corridors. Roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz along Iran’s southern coastline. Armed factions, rival militias or uncontrolled naval forces operating alongIran’s coast could disrupt shipping lanes, attack tankers or try to block access to the strait, turning a regional crisis into a global energy shock. That would have consequences far beyond the Middle East. Higher energy prices would ripple through global economies, affecting everything from transportation costs to inflation. American policymakers often view energy instability as a regional problem, but in reality, it quickly becomes a global one. The strategic consequences would extend further. Iran currently serves as a central node in a network of regional alliances and proxy groups that includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, various militia groups in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. These actors operate within a framework influenced, to varying degrees, by Tehran. If the Iranian state weakens dramatically, that structure could fragment. Some groups might operate independently, others might compete for influence, and still others could radicalise further without central coordination. The result would be a far more unpredictable security environment across the Middle East, which would make diplomatic engagement more difficult and military conflicts harder to contain. Another risk lies in leadership uncertainty. Some policymakers assume that weakening the current Iranian leadership will produce a more moderate political order. But regime change rarely follows a predictable script. Iran’s political system contains multiple competing factions, including conservative clerical networks, reformist politicians and powerful elements within the security establishment such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran’s leadership transition is less about a single successor than about the balance of power between clerical institutions, elected offices and the security apparatus. If the existing leadership were weakened or removed during wartime conditions, that balance could quickly unravel. The IRGC, which already commands vast military and economic resources, could try to consolidate authority, potentially pushing Iran towards a more overtly militarised political order. In such an environment, more radical actors, particularly those who view compromise with the US as impossible, could gain influence. There is also little evidence that sustained military strikes will generate pro-American sentiment among the Iranian population. History suggests that external pressure often strengthens nationalist sentiment rather than weakening it. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, for example, did not produce pro-American attitudes but instead fuelled resentment and insurgency. Similarly, repeated Israeli military campaigns in Lebanon have tended to strengthen support for Hezbollah rather than weaken it. Beyond the Middle East itself, instability in Iran could also trigger significant migration flows. Iran already hosts millions of refugees from neighbouring countries, particularly Afghanistan. If internal conflict were to erupt inside Iran, even a small share of Iran’s population of more than 90 million people seeking refuge abroad could produce migration flows far larger than those seen during recent Middle Eastern crises.
Many of those migrants would likely move towards Turkiye and eventually Europe, placing additional pressure on governments already grappling with migration crises. While this may appear distant from American shores, the political consequences for US allies in Europe would inevitably affect transatlantic relations and Western cohesion. Taken together, these risks illustrate a broader strategic problem. Weakening Iran may appear attractive to the US from a narrow military perspective, but destabilising a large regional power rarely produces orderly outcomes. The United States has confronted similar dynamics before. The collapse of state authority in Iraq after 2003 did not eliminate threats in the region; it produced new ones. Libya’s fragmentation after 2011 created an enduring security vacuum. Syria’s civil war turned into a multisided conflict that reshaped the politics of the entire region. For Washington, the question should be whether the long-term consequences of destabilising Iran would ultimately make the region and the world more dangerous. If recent history offers any guidance, destabilising Iran may ultimately create the very threats Washington hopes to eliminate. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.} Video-Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/3/6/a-weak-iran-would-backfire-on-the-united-states


Shno Mehrborur
Jinhagency - Womens News Agency - March 6, 2026 Shia Koyi
{Shno Mehrborur: Unity Today is Not an Option but a National Necessity
Journalist Shno Mehrborur stressed that Eastern Kurdistan faces a critical phase, where unity is not optional but a national necessity to protect Kurdish rights, existence, and survival.
Koya — Eastern Kurdistan is witnessing a politically sensitive phase, where internal developments in Iran intersect with the growing Kurdish demands for freedom and justice. Amid this tense landscape, calls for strengthening unity among Kurdish political forces have intensified. In response, five Kurdish political forces in Eastern Kurdistan—the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (HDKA), Kurdistan Struggle League, and Iranian Kurdistan Workers’ Organization—announced a union forming an alliance of significant importance at this stage. This convergence aims to establish a unified political framework and joint program for Iran’s future, enabling these parties to adopt a common vision and position on national and ethnic issues. Journalist Shno Mehrborur highlighted that the current stage requires unprecedented national cohesion, emphasizing that unity is no longer merely a political option but an existential necessity to protect the Kurdish people and their rights. She stated, “In Eastern Kurdistan, the struggle is not only political. This union has an important impact, especially in this sensitive phase. Unity is not just a choice but a national necessity. During past attacks on Rojava and the Iranian attacks on Eastern Kurdistan, all Kurds united with one voice, showing solidarity. Kurdistan has always sacrificed for freedom, past and present, and the dream of freedom has always remained.” Mehrborur stressed that Kurdish struggle is also about dignity and the right to live freely. “This cohesion has often forced enemies to retreat, and currently, it sends an important message that can gain wide support across the four parts of Kurdistan, particularly in Eastern Kurdistan.”
“Women, Life, Freedom Shook the Enemy”
On the Jin Jiyan Azadî Revolution, she noted that Jina Amini ignited the revolution, and the chant “Death to Khamenei” was raised at her grave, highlighting his decades-long oppression of Kurds and confiscation of their rights. She added, “The slogan Women, Life, Freedom emerged from Kurdistan. When a Kurdish woman from Saqqez was unjustly killed, the slogan became global and shook the enemy. Dynamic women were the driving force of this revolution.”
Historical Kurdish and Women’s Oppression
Mehrborur also recalled that since the founding of the Iranian Republic, the regime has been a major enemy of the Kurds. She emphasized that Khamenei’s death was considered good news, as he represented decades of repression, both inside Iran and in Kurdistan. The Iranian regime had labeled Kurdistan a “cancerous node to be eradicated” and implemented thousands of plans against Kurdish achievements. Kurdish women faced double oppression: as women in Iran and as Kurds in Eastern Kurdistan. She asserted, “Kurdish women have always been at the forefront of struggle. Women fight for gender and class liberation while prioritizing national struggle. Without achieving Kurdish national struggle, gender equality cannot be realized.”
Women’s Role Moving Forward
Mehrborur emphasized that women must play a major role in advancing Eastern Kurdistan toward a new phase. She stated that women should take responsibility and work collectively to confront violence, while Kurds must remain aware, as this is a transitional stage and Iranians have yet to experience true democracy. She concluded, “Since the era of Reza Shah, Kurdish demands have been suppressed. Qazi Muhammad, President of the Republic of Kurdistan, was executed b the same authority that Reza Shah’s father belonged to, which today seeks to regain power. Kurdish demands have been violated throughout history.”}  Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/shno-mehrborur-unity-today-is-not-an-option-but-a-national-necessity-38709


Iranian Stadiums
Iranwire - March 6, 2026 Payam Younesipour
{Iranian Stadiums Used as Military Deployment Sites
For years, the Islamic Republic has reportedly positioned its military units around Tehran’s Azadi, Takhti, and Enghelab stadiums - along with Yadegar in Tabriz and Naghsh-e Jahan and Fooladshahr in Isfahan - using these sports venues both as protective cover and, at times, as sites for deploying missile launchers. According to a reliable source who spoke to IranWire, the early-morning strike carried out by the U.S. and Israel on Thursday, March 5, targeting the Azadi 12,000-Seater Arena, was intended to eliminate the remaining “Special Unit” forces stationed in West Tehran. An informed source told IranWire that after missile strikes hit Special Unit headquarters in Tehran, the Azadi arena was turned into a barracks for these forces beginning on Tuesday, March 3. The site was later struck by U.S. and Israeli missiles. Article 52 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions defines stadiums as “civilian objects,” meaning that attacking them can amount to a “war crime.” However, paragraphs two and three of the same article clarify that such venues may become lawful military targets if they are used to house or deploy military personnel or equipment. The “Special Units” are the most feared anti-riot branch of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces. By moving them into a famous sports arena, the government effectively used an iconic civilian landmark as a military base. For non-Iranian readers, this is a calculated risk: if the site is hit, the government can claim a “war crime” to the international community; if it is not hit, their elite troops remain safe.
According to IranWire’s source, the exact number of Special Unit forces killed in the strike on the 12,000-seater arena is still unclear. However, some members of these forces are reportedly continuing to stay in the wrestling halls of the Azadi complex and other sports facilities within the “Olympic Village.” On the same day that the Azadi arena was struck, additional attacks hit Esmaeili Hall in the Yaftabad neighborhood, Azadegan Water Park in southern Tehran, and Eskandarloo Sports Hall in District 15. IranWire has learned that each of these sites had reportedly been serving as deployment centers for the Islamic Republic’s police and Special Unit forces. Footage circulating from the airstrike on Besat Stadium in District 15 appears to show armed government forces scrambling to flee, with several uniformed soldiers visibly wounded. Taken together, the evidence suggests that military personnel had been concentrated inside sports facilities, reinforcing claims that Tehran’s stadiums were being used to accommodate troops - moves that could constitute a breach of international law.
Why Is the Government Using Stadiums as Shields?
A source familiar with the situation in Iran told IranWire that the strikes were specifically intended to neutralize the Special Unit forces operating in West Tehran. The source added that since the first wave of U.S. and Israeli attacks, Azadi Stadium has been used to accommodate IRGC forces and store military equipment. IranWire previously reported on the housing of IRGC forces in Azadi halls during the “12-Day War” with Israel. This source claims that the Islamic Republic has initiated a “Casualty Laundering” (Kushte-Sazi) project. By using civilian centers to house military personnel, they hope to use any resulting deaths to manipulate Western anti-war public opinion. “Casualty Laundering” describes a strategy in which a government frames military fatalities as civilian losses. By positioning soldiers inside a stadium, the regime ensures that any strike on those forces produces images of damaged civilian infrastructure - material that can then be used in a propaganda effort to call for international sanctions against the U.S. and Israel.
The Strategic Encirclement of Sports Venues
Is the use of stadiums as shields a new tactic for the Islamic Republic? No. IranWire’s previous reports from June and October 2024 detailed efforts to turn nearly all major stadiums into military shelters. The government has made little effort to conceal these decisions. On June 24, 2024, the Ministry of Sport’s website quoted the manager of the Azadi complex, Mohsen Khomarloo, as saying that the complex had offered “full capacity” services to the “Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic” during military strikes.
Ararat Club: Built in 1971. In 1995, the IRGC built the Tharallah Headquarters (the primary security unit for controlling Tehran) right next to it, alongside the Football Federation and the Olympic Committee.
Takhti Stadium: Opened in 1974. The regime surrounded it with the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Headquarters, the “01” Military Training Center, and the headquarters of the 27th Division of the IRGC.
Azadi Stadium: Opened in 1971. The regime established the Special Unit Headquarters on the northeast corner of the stadium in 1998.
In Tehran alone, almost every major stadium and sports federation headquarters is either encircled by or directly used by security, intelligence, and military forces. IranWire has also recently received reports indicating that IRGC missile launchers have been stationed near Naghsh-e Jahan and Fooladshahr stadiums in Isfahan, as well as near Yadegar Stadium in Tabriz.} Source: https://iranwire.com/en/features/149964-iranian-stadiums-used-as-military-deployment-sites/

Al Jazeera - March 5, 2026 By Simon Speakman Cordall
{Emotional turmoil grips Iranians watching conflict unfold overseas
As conflict engulfs Iran, the country’s diaspora feels anguish, reflecting on memories of home and uncertainty about the future. Maryam’s life stopped last Saturday. Since then, every minute of every day has been divided between getting updates from her family in Iran when they can communicate with her, and the hours between, when she’s left guessing what their fate might be. Maryam, who asked that we not use her real name for security reasons, is not alone. The Iranian diaspora is one of the largest in the world, including those who fled persecution under the former shah pre-1979, those who fled oppression under the Islamic Republic, and those who simply sought financial stability or careers overseas. Now, like Maryam, they live for snatches of information about the welfare of their relatives in the midst of a war that threatens to engulf the region. “What is happening now is my worst fear,” Maryam, 33, says from Madrid. She was last in Tehran in January, but returned to the Spanish capital, where she works, following the wave of mass protests that month, when thousands were killed.
“This is what I search for at 3am when I can’t sleep: ‘US Iran,’” she says of her Google search, “just to check.” “Every piece of that land is like a cell in my body. My dad is from the south, my mother [is from] the north, so every inch of that land is me. I feel like everywhere is my home. An aggression against that land is an aggression against me. Iran is like my other mother,” she says, her voice breaking. Across the Iranian diaspora, many describe a sense of helplessness and dread that grew following the build-up of United States forces off their country’s coast in late January. That is when US President Donald Trump warned of the “massive armada” making its way “quickly”, and “with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose”, towards Iran. On February 28, the predictions of observers around the world became reality, with the first of the massive waves of US and Israeli strikes on Iran that have since continued, killing at least 1,230 people, and destroying huge swathes of infrastructure and homes. Among the dead was Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Iranians have responded with their own attacks on Israel and surrounding states, with fears that the conflict will spiral out of control across the wider region.
‘Torture’ watching from afar
Sara, a student, describes searching every scrap of news footage from Iran for some sign of her family home, high in the hills above Tehran.“My grandfather built it on the sides of a hill,” she says from London, where she has no choice but to watch the war on her country unfold. “It’s our family home. It’s where my parents were married. It’s where I spent my childhood. It’s my family’s soul,” she says, describing the “torture” and the impotence of looking on as much of the city where she grew up burns. Hiwa, 35, an Iranian Kurd from Sanandaj, also known as Sine, in northwestern Iran, says he heard from his father last week, before the US and Israeli strikes. He is less worried for his family because their location has not been among the main targets of the attacks. But he says he can’t be sure that won’t change in the future. Hiwa fled Iran three years ago, crossing the English Channel to the United Kingdom after he says his friends were arrested for their pro-democracy activities. Hiwa explains that he had already been arrested twice, in 2011 and 2014, for similar reasons. During the first arrest, he says, he was taken from his university, locked in a room and beaten. The second arrest led to him spending a month in prison. Now he thinks about his widowed father, already in his 70s, at home in Sine and sick with cancer. “I mean, it is a big paradox, you know, it is a very, very big paradox,” he says. He describes his life in the UK, how he can go outside, go for a coffee, and how people will smile at him. “But when you go back home, you’re thinking about your family. You are in a terrible situation. You can’t balance between them,” he says of a life stretched emotionally between two continents and two wildly different sets of circumstances. “I can’t sleep at night,” he says, “It’s affected my study, my education, my work, everything.”
Political trauma
Even before the current conflict, Iranians have struggled to watch the unrest in their country. Demonstrations in January led to a government crackdown. The United Nations and international human rights organisations have accused government forces of killing thousands of protesters. The Iranian state has blamed “terrorists” for many of the killings. Like many in Iran, Maryam and Sara are used to oppression, and the violence that it can spark. Maryam explains that her mother had been a political prisoner. Maryam herself had been involved in the 2009 Green Movement protests after the controversial re-election of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A few days ago, she went through her loft, looking for belongings that would remind her of Iran. She found a photograph from those protest days. “I was sitting down, to show that we were peaceful,” she says, her voice warming at the memory of her younger self. “The sun is in my face and I’m sort of frowning. I’ve been through these things before. Everyone has been through these things before. We always pretend it’s new and [that] we haven’t, but it’s not new. We all saw this coming. All I see are repeats of what’s gone before.” No one who spoke to Al Jazeera claims to know what the future holds for Iran. None of them expect the country or its people will be any better off by the time the bombs stop. For now, all are worried about their friends and family, who have no option but to try and live through it. Maryam remembers her mother’s mental fortitude in the years after she was released from the notorious Evin Prison. “When I was about 13 or 14 years old, they built a highway that [passed by] it,” she says. “You could drive and see inside as you were passing it. I remember being in the car, with my mum driving and seeing how beautiful and determined she was –  to be passing all this darkness and not letting it [impact] her.” “She was just taking her daughters into town, in the beautiful homeland she would never let anyone take away from us,” Maryam says. “That’s what I think of when I think of Iran. I will never allow all the ugliness and the hate, which we’ve all experienced, distract me from that.”} Video-Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/5/emotional-turmoil-grips-iranians-watching-conflict-unfold-overseas

Al Jazeera - March 4, 2026 By Sarah Shamim
{Why are the US and Israel framing the ongoing conflict as a religious war?
US troops reportedly told the war in Iran is intended to bring about biblical end times, Armageddon. As conflict in the Middle East enters its fifth day on Wednesday, American and Israeli officials are pushing rhetoric suggesting that the campaign against Iran is a religious war. On Tuesday, Muslim civil rights organisation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), condemned the Pentagon’s use of this rhetoric, deeming it “dangerous” and “anti-Muslim”.
The United States and Israel began their attack on Iran on Saturday and have continued to carry out strikes on Iran since then. In retaliation, Iran has hit back at targets in Israel, and US military assets in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Cyprus. A US watchdog has reported that US troops have been told the war is intended to “induce the biblical end of times”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also recently stated that Iran is run by “religious fanatic lunatics”.
What are American and Israeli leaders saying?
US watchdog Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) said it has received emailed complaints that US service members were told the war with Iran is meant to “cause Armageddon”, or the biblical “end times”. An unnamed noncommissioned officer wrote in an email to MRFF that a commander had urged officers “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 MRFF is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to upholding religious freedom for US service members. The officer claimed the commander had told the unit that Trump “has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”. Israeli and US leaders have also resorted to religious rhetoric in public. Last month, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, told conservative US commentator Tucker Carlson during an interview that it would be “fine” if Israel took “essentially the entire Middle East” because it was promised the land in the Bible. However, Huckabee added that Israel was not seeking to do so. Speaking to the media on Tuesday this week, Rubio said: “Iran is run by lunatics – religious fanatic lunatics. They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons.” And, the previous day in a Pentagon news briefing, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said: “Crazy regimes like Iran, hell-bent on prophetic Islamic delusions, cannot have nuclear weapons.” In its statement, CAIR claimed that Hegseth’s words are “an apparent reference to Shia beliefs about religious figures arising near the end times”. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced the Torah, comparing Iran with an ancient biblical enemy, the Amalekites. The “Amalek” are known in Jewish tradition as representing “pure evil”. “We read in this week’s Torah portion, ‘Remember what Amalek did to you.’ We remember – and we act.” CAIR said: “We are not surprised to see Benjamin Netanyahu once again using the biblical story of Amalek – which claims that God commanded the Israelites to murder every man, woman, child and animal in a pagan nation that attacked them – to justify Israel’s mass murder of civilians in Iran, just as it did in Gaza.” The statement added that every American should be “deeply disturbed by the ‘holy war’ rhetoric” being spread by the US military, Hegseth and Netanyahu to justify the war on Iran. “Mr Hegseth’s derisive comment about ‘Islamist prophetic delusions’, an apparent reference to Shia beliefs about religious figures arising near the end times, was unacceptable. So is US military commanders telling troops that war with Iran is a biblical step towards Armageddon.”
Why are US and Israeli leaders framing the conflict with Iran as a religious war?
By attempting to frame the conflict as a holy war, leaders are using theological beliefs to “justify action, mobilise political opinion, and leverage support”, Jolyon Mitchell, a professor at Durham University in the UK, told Al Jazeera. “Many on both sides of this conflict believe that they have God on their side. God is enlisted in this conflict, as with many others, to support acts of violence. The demonisation and dehumanisation of the enemy, the ‘other’, will inevitably make building peace after the conflict even harder,” Mitchell said. “There are several overlapping reasons, and they operate at different levels: domestic mobilisation, civilisational framing, and strategic narrative construction,” Ibrahim Abusharif, an associate professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera. Domestic mobilisation refers to rallying a country’s own people. Leaders can frame conflict as religious and hence morally clear and urgent, rallying public support, he said. In a video circulating on social media this week, Christian Zionist pastor and televangelist John Hagee is seen delivering a sermon promoting the US assault on Iran. Hagee said that Russia, Turkiye, “what’s left of Iran” and “groups of Islamics” will march into Israel. He said that God will “crush” the “adversaries of Israel”. “Religious language mobilises domestic constituencies,” Abusharif said, explaining that in the US, this connects deeply with many evangelicals and Christian Zionists, because they already see Middle East wars as part of a religious “end times” story. “References to the ‘end times’, the Book of Revelation, or biblical enemies are not incidental; they activate a cultural script already present in American political theology.” Civilisational framing refers to the creation of an “us vs them” dichotomy, casting the conflict as a clash between whole ways of life or faiths, not just a dispute over borders or policy, he added. Hence, statements such as Hegseth’s reference to “prophetic Islamic delusions” simplify the terms of the war in the minds of ordinary people. “Wars are difficult to justify in technical strategic language,” Abusharif said. “Casting the conflict as a struggle between ‘civilisation and fanaticism’, or between biblical ‘good and evil’, transforms a complicated regional confrontation into a moral drama that ordinary audiences can easily grasp.” “Israeli leadership has long used biblical referents as political language. We all are familiar with it. The narratives have become globalised. In Israeli political discourse, this language situates contemporary conflict within a long historical narrative of Jewish survival, and it signals existential stakes,” Abusharif said.
Have US or Israeli leaders made religious references before?
Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have used the term “Amalek” before in reference to Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. Historically, during wars or military confrontations, US presidents and senior officials have also invoked the Bible or used Christian language. President George W Bush invoked similar language after the September 11, 2001 attacks. On September 16, 2001, Bush said: “This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while.” The Crusades were a series of religiously framed wars, mainly between the 11th and 13th centuries, in which the papacy fought against Muslim rulers for territory. The White House later tried to distance Bush from the word “crusade” to clarify that Bush was not waging a war against Muslims. Abusharif said that the war on Iran is about power and politics, but using religious rhetoric energises supporters and “moralises” the conflict. “The war itself is not theological. It is geopolitical. But the language surrounding it increasingly draws on sacred imagery and civilisational narratives. That rhetoric can mobilise supporters and frame the conflict in morally absolute terms,” Abusharif said. “Yet it also carries risks: once a war is cast in sacred language, political compromise becomes harder, expectations become higher, and the global perception of the conflict can shift in ways that complicate diplomacy.”} Video-Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/4/why-are-the-us-and-israel-framing-the-ongoing-conflict-as-a-religious-war

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