What prophecies or predictions—if any—does the Bible make about Iran in the Last Days? This is a question on many people’s minds because Iran has been at the center of the world’s attention recently. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2009 election “win” was widely disputed both within Iran and by nations around the world, and his hardline repression of protestors has convinced many that he has no concept of democracy and human rights. The fact that he remains in power leads many to fear the worst for peace in the Middle East.

Many nations find Iran’s push on uranium enrichment programs alarming. While Iran states that it merely seeks to create nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, most nations believe that it’s really seeking to create weapons of mass destruction. This fear has been underlined by Ahmadinejad’s repeated statements of hatred for Israel—he has called for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map”—and his denial of the Holocaust. The very real fear is that under Ahmadinejad’s leadership, Iran could fire nuclear missiles at Israel. But will this happen?

When we turn to the Bible we come across the name “Persia” repeatedly. Iran was known as Persia for thousands of years and only began calling itself Iran in 1935. The ironic thing is that although all the other world empires—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome—enslaved, killed or oppressed the Israelites, the Persian Empire was unusually benevolent toward them. God called the Persian king Cyrus “My shepherd” and “My anointed,” and when Cyrus became king, he stated that the God of Israel had commanded him to build a temple for him in Jerusalem—so he sent the Jews great treasures (Isa. 44:28; 45:1–4; Ezra 1:1–11). The beautiful Jewess Esther even married Ahasuerus (Xerxes) the Persian king! (Est. 2:16–18). How times have changed!

In recent years, Ahmadinejad has strengthened relations with Russia; in October 2005 he even set up an office expressly dedicated to this purpose. Russia has supplied Iran with enriched uranium in an effort to persuade it to stop pursuing its own enrichment program. These developments are significant, since Eze. 38:1–9 describes a great battle in the End Time, at the beginning of the Last Seven Years, when Magog (Russia) leads a coalition of nations in an overland invasion of Israel—and Persia is specifically named as one of the nations joining in the attack.

Ezekiel tells us that the Russian-led armies will be obliterated in a miraculous earthquake and by infighting in the terror and confusion that follows (Eze. 38:18–22). It is not clear whether the Iranian army actually arrives in Israel for the invasion and is obliterated as well—or whether it will still be fighting its way west through Iraq at the time of this destruction—but whichever scenario happens, the Iranians immediately cease hostilities. For the record, there is no mention in the Bible of Iran firing nuclear missiles at Israel, whether before this End Time invasion or during it.

The Iranians suffer a devastating invasion themselves later on, during the final great Battle of Armageddon, when the armies of the Kings of the East, 200 million strong, sweep west through India, Pakistan and Iran on their way to fight the Antichrist’s armies in the Valley of Armageddon in Israel.

“The number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million: And I saw the horses in the vision … and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was a third of mankind killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (Rev. 9:16–18).
These “horses” are believed to be tanks belching out fire and smoke, killing people, and certainly any modern land army would include tanks. Even machine guns issue fire and smoke out of their “mouths.” This army of 200 million horsemen is led by the Kings of the East mentioned in Rev.16:12. These kings are most likely the warlords (regional rulers) of China, since even as far back as the 1960s, Mao boasted that he could raise an army of 200 million men. After cutting a swath of destruction through Iran, this army finally crosses Iran’s western border into Iraq and arrives at the Euphrates River.

To sum these events up: despite many fears to the contrary, by all indications in the Bible, Iran will not use nuclear weapons against Israel. It will, however, join in a land invasion of the Jewish state, which will be stopped in its tracks by a massive earthquake. And like many other peoples of the Near East and Middle East, the Iranians will suffer heavy casualties when the armies of the Kings of the East cross their land.