As the high-stakes conflict between Israel and Iran unfolded in recent weeks, there were two competing narratives on how we got here. Now, in the wake of Israel’s emerging victory, it is critical that world leaders determine which narrative holds the truth—because folly on an issue as grave as nuclear arms can be disastrous.
One narrative claims Iran is a peace-loving nation developing a nuclear program for purely civilian use. According to this version, Iran negotiated in good faith with the United States until Israel sabotaged those talks with “Operation Rising Lion.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed “Iran did nothing wrong,” and that Trump’s deceptions ahead of his “Midnight Hammer” bunker-buster strikes “betrayed” diplomacy. Russia and Turkey also condemned the Israeli and American strikes, with Turkish President Erdogan going so far as to accuse Israel of “state terrorism” and genocide worse than Hitler.
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The other narrative invites us to examine the origins and aims of Iran’s clerical regime that took power during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Khomeini taught that the Muslim world’s defeats against Israel stemmed from abandoning core Islamic principles. He called for a return to 7th-century Islam to achieve victory over Israel and ultimately world conquest. Once in power, Iran’s mullahs exported the revolution, orchestrating the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, founding Hezbollah and inspiring the deadly suicide bombings of the U.S. Embassy and Marines barracks in Beirut that killed hundreds of Americans.
From the beginning, Iran cast America as the “Great Satan” and Israel as the “Little Satan.” Their strategy to destroy Israel relied on surrounding it with well-armed proxies. Hezbollah, their most lethal proxy, carried out bombings around the globe and amassed over 150,000 rockets. Hamas, despite being Sunni, accepted funding and training from Shi’ite Iran. Other proxies included Shi’a militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and to a large degree the Assad regime in Syria.
Iran’s eight-year war with Iraq taught the regime the strategic value of ballistic missiles targeting civilian areas well behind the front lines. They developed a ballistic missile program under the guise of a space agency, testing engines for their Shahab missiles. Meanwhile, they began secretly pursuing nuclear weapons. To avoid detection, Iran dispersed its facilities, duplicated key functions and buried much of the program deep underground.
Eventually, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began monitoring Iran’s declared nuclear facilities, but in 2002, Iranian dissidents revealed the secret underground Natanz site. Despite this, the EU-3 (Germany, France, UK) pursued talks. In 2009, they were shocked again to discover Fordow, a heavily fortified enrichment site hidden inside a mountain. Yet they quickly resumed negotiations, ultimately reaching the 2015 JCPOA deal with the Obama administration.
That deal released billions of dollars in frozen assets, which Iran used to expand its terror network. President Trump rightly withdrew from the JCPOA due to its weak “sunset clauses” and inspection compliance, failure to dismantle the nuclear program, and its blind eye to Iran’s missile buildup and support for terrorism.
Under President Biden, U.S. policy returned to Obama-era appeasement. But the October 7, Hamas terror attacks finally pushed Israel to go on the offensive against Iran’s proxies. Then, with Hamas and Hezbollah weakened and Trump back in office, Israel confronted the source of the existential threat: Iran’s radical regime itself.
Israel had shown restraint for decades, engaging in a covert shadow war to delay Iran’s progress but never delivering a knockout blow. Netanyahu repeatedly warned the world not to believe Tehran’s lies about “peaceful” intentions. Those warnings were vindicated.
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Iran has enriched uranium to 60%—useless for civilian purposes and dangerously close to weapons-grade. They’ve hidden facilities, fortified them underground, barred inspections, and duplicated weapons development stages. Iran has even been caught designing nuclear detonators and shaping metal into warhead shapes. The IAEA recently concluded that Iran possesses enough highly enriched uranium to build at least nine nuclear bombs.
So, who was really deceiving whom? Tehran used recent talks with Trump’s envoys as cover to accelerate its nuclear weapons push. If President Trump misled Iran into thinking more talks were coming while planning a strike, then the regime got exactly what it deserved. The world is safer today because of it.
David Parsons is an author, attorney, journalist, minister and Middle East specialist who serves as Vice President & Senior Spokesman for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. On staff in Jerusalem for the past 28 years, Parsons has been interviewed by hundreds of media outlets and travels the world to speak about Israel and our prophetic times.
