Iran's War Against Israel: The Shia Eschatological Vision

... the animosity of Iran toward Israel is not just political, but religious, which is fundamentally different and is not well understood in the West... understanding Khomeini’s Shia end-of-days ideology, is nonetheless key. Political discourse is a side-effect of the Khomeini’s worldview, which is dictated by his eschatology...

... Iran's war against Israel is not merely political but profoundly religious. In the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s Twelver-influenced Shi'i revolutionary theology, promotes a worldview that elevates death, martyrdom, and chaos as instruments of divine purpose...

But this conflict is grounded in a dogma that sanctifies destruction and bloodshed as necessary steps toward redemption...

Iran will therefore persist in waging this war because its leaders believe they are carrying out God’s work, and that only through Israel’s elimination will redemption arrive. Until the West grasps this theological dimension, its response to Iran will remain inadequate - and dangerously naïve...

The Iranian regime considers their nation to be chosen by Allah to prepare the world for the coming of their messiah, the Twelfth Imam (whom they call the Mahdi) who will establish justice in the world. They believe that catastrophic world chaos and the defeat of their enemies, especially Israel, are prerequisites for this event. Their murder and mayhem is not only a means to an end; according to their religion it is an end in itself, and their foreign policy is guided by the desired impending apocalypse. This makes them a most dangerous foe, since there is no chance of negotiating with them or resolving the conflict peacefully; peace and justice will come only through their own martyrdom, in their view....

Iranian officials frequently cite horrific beliefs, like the notion that the Mahdi won’t return until the "last drop of Jewish blood" is spilled...

In Twelver Shia theology, the world must be conquered and ruled by Muslims for the Mahdi to return, hence death to American and Israel, and the existence of a thriving Jewish state in land previously ruled by Muslims flies in the face of this ideal...

This is not a regime that can be negotiated with or appeased.

Learn more about Political Islam, creeping sharia and Islamic conquest

To understand Iran’s calculations, you must understand their eschatological vision, New Neo, 9 March 2026.

On War: The Last Quiet Room: A Dispatch from a Sealed Room in Israel on the Necessary, Terrible Cost of Ending the Iranian Regime, by Gregg Roman, Middle East Forum, 7 March 2026.