The aftermath of an airstrike in Tehran,Iran,yesterday (Picture: Parspix/ABACA/Shutterstock)

American soldiers were told that the Iran conflict is ‘God’s plan’ to bring about the end of the world,a religious watchdog has claimed.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received more than 200 complaints from personnel across all branches of the armed forces.

One complainant said their commander kicked off their combat readiness briefing by ‘urging us not to be “afraid”‘ of the looming threat of war.

They said: ‘He urged us 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. 

‘He said that: “’President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”‘

According to a copy of the email shared by journalist Jonathan Larsen,the commander said this with a ‘big grin on his face’.

Joint US-Israeli attacks on Saturday sparked the conflict (Picture: AFP)

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has put his Christianity front and centre of his leadership style (Picture: Reuters)

The complaint was filed by a noncommissioned officer (NCO) of a 16-strong unit made up of Christians,Muslim and Jewish service members.

They added: ‘It’s the fact that our commander feels as though he is fully supported and justified by the entire [unit] chain of command to inflict his Armageddon views of our attack on Iran on those of us beneath him in the chain of command.’

MRFF President Mikey Weinstein said many complaints describe senior military officials referring to the conflict as ‘biblically-sanctioned’.

‘Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be,zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfil and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end-of-the-world eschatology,’ Weinstein added.

What is Armageddon?

It’s less of a specific moment where fire and brimstone appear and more of a place.Armageddon is referred to in the New Testament as a location where world leaders under demonic rule will wage war with God’s forces.As important as this sounds,this specific Armageddon is referenced just once in the Revelation to John and was prophesied to take place in Megiddo,a town in ancient Palestine. That’s why ‘Armageddon’ in Hebrew roughly translates to ‘Hill of Megiddo’.These days,Armageddon is used to refer to any cataclysmic event.Weinstein added that he’s observed a sharp rise in Christian extremism and called for the separation of church and state.US ‘secretary of war’ Pete Hegseth has long called for a Christian nationalist approach to leadership.He has praised the Crusades – when Christian warriors from western Europe ruthlessly removed control of Jerusalem from Muslim rule between the 11th and 13th centuries.The American Crusade author has a tattoo on his arm with the words ‘Deus Vult,’ which he says was the ‘battle cry’ of the Crusades.On podcasts published in 2024,Hegseth said he agrees with sphere sovereignty,which calls for Old Testament law and capital punishment for violations like being LGBTQ+.Hegseth called the conflict in Iran the ‘generational turning point’ for the US on Monday,calling for soldiers to uphold a ‘warrior ethos’ and the Constitution.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .