As things in the Middle East are ramping up with a major conflict in progress (Operation Epic Fury), stage-setting for prophetic fulfillment, I think, comes into quickly tightening focus. The Iranian regime’s intransigence, in particular, helps bring matters regarding Mideast hostilities into understandable Bible prophecy perspective.

The same level of comprehension is not true for observers who don’t have God’s Word as the centerpiece of their thinking on the present warfare in that volatile region.

The primary consideration regarding what to address in the swiftly moving Iranian situation is the question the president of the United States was asking, according to a recent news item.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday that President Trump was “curious” that Iran hasn’t “capitulated” to US demands due to the major US military buildup in the Middle East and threats of war.

“I don’t want to use the word frustrated because [Trump] understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious, he’s curious as to why they haven’t, I don’t want to use the word capitulated, but why they haven’t capitulated,” Witkoff told Fox News host Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law.

“Why, under this sort of pressure, with the amount of sea power, naval power, that we have over there, why they haven’t come to us and said, ‘we profess that we don’t want a [nuclear] weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do,’ yet it’s hard to get them to that point,” Witkoff added. (“President Trump ‘Curious’ Why Iran Hasn’t ‘Capitulated’,” Dave DeCamp, zerohedge, February 23, 2026)

It’s easy to wonder over the Ayatollahs’ refusal to cooperate, as did President Trump, knowing how devastating was the US military’s previous “obliteration” (in Trump’s own words) of the Iranian regime’s underground nuclear-weapons’-development facilities.

It is easy to ask this question the president was apparently asking. Why did the Iranian leadership not prefer to give in rather than face an even more decimating action if negotiations failed to produce results this president wanted—an ongoing assault that Trump has now delivered?

In last year’s so-called 12-Day War, American military forces proved beyond any doubt that powerful bombs of unprecedented capability could penetrate—precisely—deeply within Iran’s hiding places, and that the bombs could be delivered by aircraft so advanced they couldn’t be detected even though Iran’s defense forces knew they were going to be hit—i.e., the B-2s delivered the penetrator ordnance and were gone before the Iranians knew of the assault.

Understanding that this president doesn’t play games—he does what he says he will do—the Ayatollahs still refused to stop threatening Israel and the Mideast region…and America, for that matter. They refused to give up their ambition to develop nuclear weaponry and delivery systems that would give them the ability to accomplish those desires.

This attack in Operation Epic Fury by the American military—and by the Israeli Defense Force in Roaring Lion—proved to be much more destructive, with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and most of Iran’s leadership killed –as forewarned by Mr. Trump’s own words.

So, why indeed did the fanatic Islamic regime not do all things necessary to avoid the inevitable?

Bible prophecy answers the president’s question from thousands of years ago.

Daniel, the great Old Testament prophet, was and is the conduit through which the answer to today’s question by President Donald John Trump was given.

The same commander of the same evil forces Daniel faced in that long-ago time is still in charge of stirring problems in the Middle East. He whispers into the demonically inspired thoughts of the Ayatollahs who want to initiate worldwide war…so their Mahdi, whom they believe will help them rule the world, will come on the scene as prophesied when total war begins.

The following gives a clue identifying this evil, Ephesians 6:12 demonic minion that is as active as ever today.

My friend, the late Dr. John Walvoord, once addressed the time when the prophet Daniel had troubling questions about the threats he and his people, Israel, faced.

At that time, according to Daniel chapter 10, an angel was sent to inform and comfort the old prophet:

10:12–14 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.…

Daniel is further encouraged by the exhortation, “Fear not, Daniel.” To allay the fears of Daniel still further, the angel informs him that from the very beginning of his intercession, three weeks before, God had undertaken to answer his prayers and send the angelic messenger to him. What a reassurance it is that when one comes to God as Daniel did, setting his heart to understand and chastening himself before God, one may expect Daniel’s experience of the response of God that his words were heard and the messenger dispatched. The delay is explained in verse 13 as being occasioned by the opposition of “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” who “withstood me one and twenty days.” This “prince” is not the king of the kingdom of Persia but rather the angelic leader of Persia, a fallen angel under the direction of Satan, in contrast to the angelic prince Michael who leads and protects Israel. That the angel described as “the prince” of Persia is a wicked angel is clear from the fact that his opposition to the angelic messenger to Daniel is given as the reason for the delay of twenty-one days. (Chapter 10, The Vision of the Glory of God, https://walvoord.com)

Mr. President, this is the answer to your query. That same entity–the Prince of Persia—continues in his demonic activity. As a matter of fact, this prince of evil, like his master Lucifer the fallen (Satan), knows he has but a short time. His activity is growing in virulence, as is manifested more dramatically in each succeeding news cycle.

The Ayatollahs were and are satanically driven in their madness. Regardless of the success of this latest action to eliminate those who foment evil in the region, Bible prophecy tells us the evil minions that hate Israel will yet assault God’s chosen people, according to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

All the dynamic rearrangements in the areas involved in Operation Epic Fury show clearly just how near is the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7).

Christ will call all believers into Heaven in the Rapture before the seven-year Tribulation begins. The dynamics triggered by that great event will no doubt quickly arrange all things prophesied for the Gog-Magog attack and all other prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

That twinkling-of-an-eye moment of Rapture must be near indeed!  

We must, therefore, as Royal Ambassadors on this Tribulation-bound world, instruct those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior how to come to accept God’s grace-gift offer of salvation through His Only Begotten Son. When a person accepts Jesus as Savior, he or she is Rapture Ready. –That is, he or she will go to be with Christ before that great and terrible day of the Lord begins. Here is how to accept Jesus Christ right at this moment and become a child in God the Father’s eternal family:

That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)