By Jürgen Bühler, ICEJ President

Dear friends and prayer partners,

At 8 AM this Saturday morning, Israel and the United States launched their long-anticipated joint military operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure and hopefully topple the radical Islamist regime itself.

After dispatching an enormous array of military hardware to the region, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was “unhappy” with the slow, evasive responses of Iranian officials in the mediated talks with Tehran over its nuclear and missile program, support for proxy terror militias, and brutal oppression of its own people.

Thus, he gave a ‘green light’ this morning to a joint operation with Israel styled as a “pre-emptive” attack to remove an existential threat to Israel and persistent menace to regional and world security for the past 47 years.

The initial air sorties targeted the regime’s political and military leaders in Tehran, including Ayatollah Khameini and President Masoud Pezeshkian. Satellite images confirm that the supreme leader’s official compound was destroyed, but it is still unclear if he or Pezeshkian were killed. Israeli sources are expressing confidence they successfully took out the Iranian army chief-of-staff and intelligence chief, defense minister and head of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps. Other initial targets were missile launchers, military facilities, and missile factories.

In response, Iran has fired some three dozen ballistic missiles at Israel, along with several waves of armed drones. Israelis were instructed to remain in their bomb shelters during the opening hours of the conflict. Most of the missiles and drones were shot down, while falling debris has caused limited damage and a couple minor injuries so far.

Iranian forces also shot rockets at US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE, while American troops in Iraq have been threatened by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. One person has been reported dead in the Emirates, and four in Syria from rocket blasts or debris.

This confrontation carries high stakes and needs our urgent prayers. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are banking on intelligence assessments that the Islamic Republic is at its weakest point since seizing power in 1979 – especially after the IDF’s 12 days of punishing blows last June and the massive street protests across Iran in January. Should the repressive regime in Tehran be toppled, it could lead to a more democratic, Western-oriented government that could also shift from utter hostility to friendlier terms with Israel.

The outcome also has huge global ramifications, not only to world oil markets but also to Russia and China’s attempts to challenge American influence and power worldwide. Both Moscow and Beijing have used the Iranian regime and its regional terror network as proxies to undermine American and Western interests in the Middle East, and the defeat of the Ayatollahs could prove a major setback for Russia and China.

We ask you to stand with us in urgent intercession for the protection and safety of the people of Israel and others in the region, for wisdom and clarity for Israeli and American leaders, and for God’s purposes and plans to be fulfilled in this hour. May the Lord be a shield around Israel and bring His will to pass.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer.

Dr. Jürgen Bühler, ICEJ President

Please join our Global Prayer Gathering every day at 4:30 PM (Israel time) to pray for Israel and the region.