Trump pastor says Iran war is a ‘spiritual obligation’

One of Donald Trump’s most vocal Christian supporters has justified the Israeli-US military strike on Iran, claiming it was akin to stopping a rape.

Pastor Mark Burns, chatting with The Telegraph on the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), said, “It’s our obligation, spiritual obligation. If I saw a girl being raped by a person, it’s my spiritual obligation to go over there and to defend that innocent woman.

“There are hundreds of thousands of innocent Iranians which have been held by gunpoint on the hand of this evil dictator, identical to what’s happening in Russia, in Ukraine. It is our obligation. We don’t want the fight. We’re not in search of the fight.

“There are hundreds of thousands of Iranians that, again, are shouting thankfulness to [Netanyahu]], thankfulness to President Trump, that this evil regime is now being toppled and being challenged in order that they may be free.”

Pastor Burns said that President Trump had received God’s protection from the 2 attempts on his life, adding that the near miss in 2024 had led Trump to a more serious engagement together with his own personal faith.

The current conflict began with a US-Israeli military strike assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei and other key leaders. Conflict has been raging ever since, with each side launching missiles and airstrikes at one another’s territory and proxies.

Both sides have also accused one another of using religious justifications for the present conflict and of attempting to bring on their very own religion’s version of the tip times.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of comparing Iran to the biblical “Amalek”, a tribe that God orders to be exterminated, while complaints have also been received throughout the US military in regards to the use of Christianity to justify the war.

One criticism alleges that a commander told soldiers that President Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”.