The US Keeps Missing the Religious Firepower Driving Iran’s War

The United States has a long history of underestimating the power of religious belief in shaping global conflicts—and the ongoing war involving Iran is no exception. As Mark O’Keefe explains in Religion Unplugged, Washington’s secular lens blinds it to the fundamental role that Twelver Shiʿism plays in Iran’s war calculus.

President Donald Trump’s Easter Sunday rant calling Iranian leaders “crazy bastards” who will “live in hell” if they don’t open the Strait of Hormuz is not just crude—it’s a symptom of a deeper failure to understand the enemy’s mindset. This isn’t a conventional war fought for land or resources alone. It’s a spiritual crusade.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not defending Iran as a mere nation-state. It’s defending a vision of Islam that sees Iran as the stage for the return of the Twelfth Imam—the Mahdi—a messianic figure whose arrival requires global upheaval and destruction of Israel. This theological commitment elevates the conflict beyond politics into the realm of divine destiny.

Experts like Josh Craddock and Tim Orr warn that ignoring this religious dimension leaves U.S. policy dangerously naïve. Conventional tools—sanctions, military threats, diplomatic pressure—fail to address a war driven by beliefs that sanctify martyrdom and destruction as steps toward redemption.

The American intelligence community’s past failures, including its surprise at the Iranian Revolution and the 9/11 attacks, stem from a secular worldview that dismisses the potency of faith as a motivator. Osama bin Laden’s fatwā explicitly framed killing Americans as a religious duty, a concept that defies Western rationality but is deeply real to those who embrace it.

Moreover, while the Iranian public is increasingly secular, the regime’s religious zealots hold power and shape policy. The IRGC’s global ambitions are fueled by this spiritual mission, not just geopolitical strategy.

The takeaway is clear: U.S. foreign policy cannot continue operating in a secular vacuum. To counter Iran’s war effectively, Washington must engage with the religious narratives driving it. This means deploying information campaigns and diplomatic strategies that challenge the theological justifications for violence, rather than relying solely on bombs and sanctions.

Ignoring the spiritual dimension only hands the initiative to Iran’s hardliners, who believe they are agents of divine will. Until the U.S. confronts this reality head-on, it risks repeating the mistakes of the past and fueling a conflict that could spiral even further out of control.