Shabbat shalom from Tehran

“Haman sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the kingdom – the people of Mordecai” (Esther 3:6)

Avner Boskey

February 27, 2026

“And now many nations have been assembled against you, who say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gloat over Zion!’ But they do not know the thoughts of YHVH, and they do not understand His plan. For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion! For I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze, so that you may pulverize many peoples, and dedicate to YHVH their unjust profit, and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth” (Micah 4:11-13)

As the Islamic Republic of Iran’s jihadi dictatorship plows ahead in rebuilding its nuclear bomb factories and hypersonic missile and drone stockpiles, it continues to breath out murderous threats, chanting ‘Marg bar Âmrikâ’ (‘death to America’) and ‘Marg bar Esrâ'il’ (‘death to Israel’). Since 1979, thousands of Americans have been murdered by Iran’s Shi’ite mujahidin (jihad warriors).

This war between Shi’ite Islam and the West (with America and Israel as high-profile targets) is not new. Anti-Semitic talking heads like Tucker Carlson who try to frame this present clash as an Israeli-instigated one are ignoring dead and suffering Americans – including the 54 US hostages cruelly kidnapped from the US Embassy in Tehran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on November 4, 1979, and held prisoner for 444 days. Also worth remembering are the Iranians citizens protesting against the jihadi Shi’ite tyrants who are ruining their country. Between 30,000 and 60,000 have been brutally murdered, and many thousands of other have been raped, tortured, beaten and imprisoned.

The gathering of a powerful US armada continues in plain view. Eleven F-22 stealth fighter jets are positioned at IAF Uvda Airbase in the Negev. At least 14 USAF refueler tankers are deployed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. Two US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups (one in the Arabian Sea [USS Abraham Lincoln] and one in the Mediterranean [the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier]) as well as three guided-missile destroyers are in the immediate conflict zone. At least eleven air-defence destroyers, three littoral combat ships and two to three attack submarines equipped with Tomahawk missiles are loitering in the vicinity. Between 100-150 USAF fighter jets and support aircraft (including F-35s, F-22s, F-15s, F-16s, and six of the military’s early-warning E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft) have arrived in the area, based in Israel, Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and probably Crete and Cyprus. This is the largest military buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Gen. Charles Wald (ret.), former deputy commander of US European Command notes: “I don’t see the United States invading on the ground in Iran to change the regime. That’s not going to happen.” It seems that ‘boots on the ground’ is ruled out in this upcoming clash. There is an overwhelming American bipartisan consensus against a commitment of ground forces to any Middle East scenario at this point.

Signs of the times

The past 24 hours in Israel have presented a multitude of flashing red lights indicating rapidly approaching outbreak of hostilities. The US and Canada have called for their non-essential embassy staff to immediately depart from Israel by today at the latest. Large numbers of Americans departed Iraq via Baghdad International Airport in the past 24 hours. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad conducted an emergency evacuation drill. Reports also indicate an evacuation of non-essential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.

IAF Iron Dome batteries have been stationed in significant locations across Israel, including at the Knesset. Public air-raid shelters have been opened up across the nation, beginning in Beersheva. IMINT (imagery intelligence) from MizarVision (a Chinese source) shows F-22 Raptor fighter jets lining up on the tarmac at IAF Uvda base, a hot precursor to an airborne invasion of Iran.

How shall we then pray? Prayer possibilities from the Book of Esther

Monday evening March 2, 2026 marks the onset of the biblical Feast of Esther. It is also the deadline given by POTUS Trump for America’s deadline to Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, As Haman planned great harm against the Jewish people in his day, so some podcasters and media pundits call for great harm to be inflicted against the Jewish state and any of their allies – even as these words are being written.

Here are four keys for effective intercession which stand out in the Scroll of Esther:

It’s time to stand up and be pro-active in the circles within which you move

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)

It’s time to remember that those who curse or mock the Jewish people and their state are cursed

Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, while Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered. And Haman informed Zeresh his wife and all his friends of everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not prevail over him, but will certainly fall before him.” (Esther 6:12-13)

It’s time to stand with Jewish pro-active response against enemies seeking their destruction

So the king’s scribes were summoned at that time in the third month … And it was written in accordance with everything that Mordecai commanded the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the provinces which extended from India to Cush, 127 provinces, to every province according to its script, and to every people according to their language, as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language. He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on royal relay horses, offspring of racing mares. In the letters the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, kill, and eliminate the entire army of any people or province which was going to attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoils, on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar). A copy of the edict to be issued as law in each and every province was published to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies (Esther 8:9-13)

Pray that some enemies of Jacob will grasp this window of opportunity for true repentance

And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves ‘Jews,’ for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. (Esther 8:17)

Pray that loss of life will be kept to a minimum; that those warriors responsible will be equipped with supernatural accuracy in finding the right targets; that American soldiers and Israeli citizens will be divinely protected from all harm.

Pray for the entire people of Israel to be protected and preserved from their enemies (see Luke 1:68-75), and that they would seek and find salvation in Messiah Yeshua