President Donald Trump thanked God for the surprise bombing campaign he carried out against Iran Saturday, June 21.
In comments to the nation on live TV Saturday evening, Trump ended by saying: “And in particular, God, I want to just say, we love you God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America.”
Trump spoke to the nation shortly after U.S. military carried out strikes on three key nuclear facilities in Iran: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. By this action, the United States appears to have joined Israel’s war with Iran, which aims — in part — to stop Iran from further developing nuclear weapons.
Trump authorizing the air strikes surprised many of his MAGA followers who strongly oppose U.S. intervention in foreign wars anywhere. However, his evangelical base is motivated more by fighting Iran than by abstaining from foreign intervention.
Trump himself had criticized his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, multiple times over the potential for war with Iran.
For example, in 2025 Trump blasted Biden: “Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak and he’s ineffective.”
“Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak and he’s ineffective.”
Trump also claimed on the campaign trail last year that if elected, he would end Russia’s war against Ukraine within 24 hours — a claim he made at least 53 times. That war still rages, five months into Trump’s presidency.
Evangelical Trump supporters immediately began falling in line with praise for the president’s actions.
“Iran gave President Trump no choice,” said Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist highly influential with evangelicals through Turning Point USA. “For a decade, he has been adamant that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon. Iran decided to forego diplomacy in pursuit of a bomb. This is a surgical strike, operated perfectly. President Trump acted with prudence and decisiveness.”
Others warned that “surgical strike” will lead to a full-scale war with Iran — much like other attempted surgical strikes by other Republican presidents against the Middle East.
Fred Wellman, a democracy advocate and Army combat vet who hosts the podcast “On Democracy,” warned on X: “Hey, guys, Trump just declared war on Iran. That’s the fact. We were not under attack by Iran. We were not under threat by Iran. Israel decided to attack Iran and Donald Trump just committed U.S. troops and U.S. forces to that fight. It is a violation of the Constitution. … Donald Trump just declared war on his own and will the republican Congress do anything? Will you cowards step up for once in your ******* pathetic lives and actually do something?”
Paul Raushenbush
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, head of Interfaith Alliance, warned on BlueSky: “The United States is stumbling into yet another dangerous conflict in the Middle East — without a clear endgame, exit strategy or vision for what comes next. And the same leaders that got us into that mess will now be tasked with leading us through the very chaos that they’ve created.”
He later added: “Donald Trump promised that he would resolve conflicts all around the world within days of taking office. But now, under his watch, all the conflicts he sought to end are getting worse — and an entirely new dangerous conflict is emerging for our people in uniform and all of us.”
In his 4-minute speech Saturday night, Trump said: “Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
Trump called Iran “the bully of the Middle East” and said this move will force its leaders to “make peace.” And if they don’t, “future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
Later, he said: “There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal.”
Americans in general and even Trump’s loyal base are divided over the best U.S. response to Iran. Of late, the most far-right of the MAGA coalition — including the likes of Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson — have joined Democrats in urging the president to stay out of Israel’s war with Iran.
However, for evangelicals, this is not just about nuclear weapons but about the perceived threat of Islam. Evangelicals also are the most reliable U.S. supporters of Israel.
President Donald J. Trump chooses a reporter to ask a question at joint news conference at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4. This is Trump’s first joint news conference with a foreign leader in his second term. (Photo by Joshua Sukoff/Medill News Service/Sipa USA via AP Images)
“I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump said. “We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done.”
That was no doubt music to the ears of Israel-supporting evangelicals.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, posted two back-to-back comments on X Saturday evening.
The first said: “The military operations in Iran should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says. The president gave Iran’s leader every opportunity to make a deal, but Iran refused to commit to a nuclear disarmament agreement.
Mike Johnson
“President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated. That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity. The president’s decisive action prevents the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants ‘Death to America,’ from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet. This is America First policy in action.”
Soon after, he posted again: “The President made the right call and did what he needed to do. Leaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation, and the commander-in-chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act.”
Trump, he said, “fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.”
Democratic leaders in Congress did not see it the same way.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaking at a rally Saturday: “It is so grossly unconstitutional. All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the U.S. Congress. The president does not have the right.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts: “The United States should not wage war against Iran. Donald Trump’s bombing of Iran is unconstitutional. Only Congress can declare war — and the Senate must vote immediately to prevent another endless war. This is a horrific war of choice.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “Donald Trump promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He has failed to deliver on that promise. The risk of war has now dramatically increased, and I pray for the safety of our troops in the region who have been put in harm’s way.
“President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.”