The US Will Decide

It was another eventful weekend in the ongoing attacks on Iran with a new Supreme Leader named and Israeli attacks on Iranian oil sites among other things. But when asked who decides when the attack will end, US President Trump said it will end when the US determines it will as we read in a report from World Israel News:

President Donald Trump said the United States and Israel are fully aligned on a timeline for concluding the war against Iran, stressing that the decision to end the conflict would consider the opinion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Saying the US will consider Netanyahu’s opinion isn’t exactly a joint decision, though, but maybe I’m splitting hairs on this. Regardless, both world leaders are communicating all the time as they should:

Speaking to The Times of Israel on Sunday, Trump said he had been discussing the timeframe for ending the military campaign with Netanyahu.

Trump said it would be a shared call, but still added his vote carries more weight:

He added that the decision on when to stop fighting would be “mutual,” while noting that Washington would ultimately have the final say.

The good news is that the US President won’t end things without everyone’s input:

“I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” Trump told ToI.

Protecting Israel

Much is made of the logic behind attacking Iran and Trump stated that Israel’s survival was at stake:

Trump emphasized that the war against Iran was necessary in order to protect the existence of the Jewish state and ensure stability in the region.

This all by itself is not news to anyone knowledgeable of the dynamics of the region. Iran constantly screams they want Israel to cease to exist and all Jews in the world should die. Trump just verbalized it once more time:

“Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it… We’ve worked together. We’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel,” Trump said.

The US President was queried about Israel fighting longer and he replied it wouldn’t be necessary:

Trump was also asked whether Israel would be permitted to continue striking Iran after the United States ends its military operations against the Islamic Republic.

Israel may strike Iran without US, defense officials tell Trump administration

“I don’t think it’s going to be necessary,” Trump replied.

While we know the ending of the conflict will be up to Trump the timeline is not etched in stone:

The president initially suggested that the campaign against Iran would last only a few days. Since then, however, he has expanded that timeframe. More recently, Trump has avoided giving an estimate for how long the war will continue.

The White House and others have given other estimates:

Last Friday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the current expectation is that the war could last between four and six weeks.

Ending a hostile regime to both the US and its close ally Israel has always been the main goal, but Iran’s defeat will have far-reaching effects on its proxies:

Trump also predicted that Iran’s defeat would have broader consequences across the region, particularly for Iran-backed terror groups. He said the outcome of the war could pressure organizations such as Hamas to disarm.

“Many people will disarm because of [the war against Iran],” he said. “Because right now, Iran is in a position that it’s never known before, and it’s only going to get worse for them.”

For those of us in Bible prophecy circles the US isn’t clearly seen in it, but God always uses nations to fulfill His plans whether they are mentioned specifically or not. Sure, the US could be one of the young lions mentioned in Ezekiel 38:13 but for a superpower that hardly qualifies as a key player in prophecy. I see Trump being a modern-day Cyrus, who ironically was Persian, stepping in to save the Jews and put them in a position to fulfill a lot more words from God. Then they will be taken out of the picture by the Rapture of the church. For now, though, the US is doing a lot of heavy lifting to humble Iran and greatly remove that threat.