![\"Ali_Khamenei](\"https:\/\/www.armstrongeconomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ali_Khamenei-Son.png\" "\\"Ali_Khamenei")
<\/a>Iran has chosen as expected the son of the former Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei\u2019s son Mojtaba Khamenei has been hailed as the new Ayatollah. Israel has instantly threaten to kill him. They are consumed with their Neocon Netanyahu\u2019s ignorant ideas that completely fail to grasp that this is a religious leader and the Shia Muslims have a very detailed and central belief in an end-of-the-world scenario, but it is fundamentally different in its key figures and sequence of events from the one preached by many Christian evangelicals.<\/p>\nBoth traditions believe history is moving toward a divinely ordained climax, but the main character of that climax is different. For Christian evangelicals, it is\u00a0Jesus Christ<\/strong>\u00a0returning in glory. For Shia Muslims, it is\u00a0Imam al-Mahdi<\/strong>\u00a0returning to establish justice.<\/p>\nMy father always taught me that it is\u00a0NOT<\/strong>\u00a0what I believe that governs the actions of any adversary, it is what they believe. Killing the Ayatollah did nothing but\u00a0REINFORCE<\/strong> their view that America and Israel are agents of the Great Satan. The killing of their religious leader like Ayatollah Khamenei or even the military and political leader Qasem Soleimani are often interpreted by believers as signs or precursors<\/strong> that fit into the existing narrative. The way a Shia Muslim views the U.S. and Israel in this context is more nuanced than a simple one-to-one fulfillment of prophecy.<\/p>\n\n
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Israel\u2019s policy of assassinating leaders has crossed the line. Rumors are now circulating that Netanyahu is flying in circles over Israel\u00a0 knowing that Iran can now adopt their own tactics and target to keep killing Israeli leaders. They have walked right into this justification for war against Israel that they and the United States are indeed the Great Satan and this is in fact a precursor to the End Days. The United States is seen as the\u00a0\u201cGreat Satan\u201d and \u201cLittle Satan\u201d is Israel. This view was popularized by Ayatollah Khomeini during the 1979 Iranian Revolution to silence his opposition that were against a religious state. These have been primarily\u00a0political and ideological<\/strong> terms. They stem from specific grievances:<\/p>\n\n- \n
U.S.:<\/strong>\u00a0Seen as supporting the repressive Shah of Iran, opposing the revolution, and later as a hegemonic power intervening in the Middle East (e.g., in Iraq, supporting Israel).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n- \n
Israel:<\/strong>\u00a0Viewed through the lens of the Palestinian conflict, as an occupying power, and as a non-Muslim state established in the heart of the Muslim world.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThese are modern political conflicts, not direct prophecies from the 9th century. While the U.S. and Israel aren\u2019t named in the original religious texts, believers who see the world through this lens will look for ways to map contemporary events onto the prophesied end-times framework the same as people do with predictions from Nostradamus. Here\u2019s how the connection is often made:<\/p>\n
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The U.S. as a Force of\u00a0Fitna<\/em>\u00a0(Chaos\/Corruption):<\/strong>\u00a0The Mahdi is prophesied to appear when the world is filled with\u00a0injustice and oppression<\/em>. For many Shia, the global power and influence of the U.S., which they see as supporting corrupt regimes and causing instability, is a prime example of the kind of \u201carrogant power\u201d (mustakbirin<\/em>) that creates the very injustice the Mahdi will come to destroy.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n- \n
Israel\u2019s Role and the \u201cBayt al-Maqdis\u201d:<\/strong>\u00a0Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis<\/em>) holds immense significance in Islamic eschatology. It is the site from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and, as we discussed, where Jesus will descend. Therefore, any conflict involving Jerusalem and Israel is immediately viewed through an eschatological lens. The struggle over the city is seen as a central part of the final, cosmic battle between good and evil.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n- \n
Al-Dajjal (The Deceiver):<\/strong>\u00a0Some modern Shia clerics and thinkers have drawn parallels between the characteristics of al-Dajjal\u2014a deceptive, one-eyed figure who will lead the world astray with false promises and control over resources\u2014and the global power structures they associate with the U.S. and its allies. This is a metaphorical and interpretive leap, not a core doctrine. The idea is that the system led by the \u201cGreat Satan\u201d is a modern manifestation of the deceptive power of al-Dajjal.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe Killing of a Leader Has Always Been Rejected in War<\/h3>\n
The idea that killing a leader can eliminate the ability to surrender is a recognized principle in military doctrine. For instance, in the theory of nuclear warfare, some strategies specifically exclude\u00a0decapitation<\/strong>\u00a0strikes for this very reason. The logic is that it\u2019s better to keep the adversary\u2019s command and control structures intact so that a single, recognized authority remains who is capable of negotiating a surrender or ceasefire.<\/p>\nKilling of a leader does not\u00a0fulfill<\/em> end a war nor will it intimidate replacement leaders. It reinforces the very resistance. I have warned that these actions are highly dangerous and if the objective is to subjugate Iran, you have merely created another generation of hatred.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n____
\nhttps:\/\/www.armstrongeconomics.com\/world-news\/war\/killing-the-ayatolla-was-a-vast-mistake\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58426,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58422\/revisions\/58426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}