Operation: Rising Lion (Israel's Strike Against Iran's Nuclear Facility)

You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, a daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and man, would we have a great episode for you guys today? Great conversation, lots of great things happening in the world.

But before we dive into that, we want to welcome our host with the most. That's Dr. Abadan Shah, who is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, welcome to the studio.

It's good to be here. Good to see you guys again. Absolutely. Absolutely. Today's verse of the day is coming to us from Psalm 46, verse 5 and 6.

This is one of my favorite psalms in all the Bible. You know, they actually turned this into one of our favorite worship songs about the worship initiative. But it says this: it says, God is in the midst of her, meaning the tabernacle, his people. She shall not be moved. God shall help her.

Just at the break of dawn, the nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, and the earth melted. Wow. What a picture of our God.

A picture of his power. Amen. And it's not only because God is in control or he is powerful, but God is intricately involved with his creation. He knows what is happening. He is not some deist.

Watchmaker, God, who has created this world and then He has left it and walked away. We don't know where He is, He's gone. The owner has left the establishment. That's not what's happening here. God is intricately involved with every single minuscule aspect of this world.

That's right. You know, Jesus in the Beatitudes talk about, or in Matthew's Gospels, and of course, Beatitudes, He talks about the lilies of the field, the birds of the air, and other places he talks about not even a sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing about it.

So he is very involved with his creation. He is very involved. With nations, with kingdoms, and what is happening in the news right now. I'm sure we're going to talk about that. Oh, yeah.

He is very aware and he is. Not only like involved, he is behind the scenes. Yes, he is the real power behind what is happening. That's what it says, you know, when it says the nations rage, the kingdoms removed, but he uttered his voice. It's not like, oh, all these people are doing this.

So, in response, God uttered his voice. He's, like you said, he's the power that is moving all of these pieces into place. And just like you mentioned, you know, Iran's nuclear program could be permanently destroyed after this attack from Israel. You know, it's in the news. Everybody's talking about it.

It's a bit of good news. But it was this Israeli operation named Operation Rising Lion. First and foremost. That's a cool name. That's a great name.

Operation Rising Lion. There's no way. That's a great name. You always want to be careful when you name your code names because it's like, I want to give it a really great name, but what if it fails? Operation Rising Lion?

Yeah, that's going through. But it actually happened in the early hours of June 13, just last Friday, just a couple of days ago. And so there were these extensive airstrikes that targeted Iran's nuclear infrastructure, this enrichment facilities for all these chemicals and nuclear warheads. Heads and these military installations permanently wiped out. And this is what they're saying.

This is much more than just kind of the latest installment in this ongoing saga. I mean, this is a this, correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Shop, but this is a major issue. Issue. This is a major shift.

Absolutely. I mean, this has been coming for quite some time. And from October of 2023, this became imminent. This became a top priority for the existence of Israel, for the existence of the Jewish people. This became a top agenda.

Of course, other things had to happen. And we had an administration here in America at the time that was not quite clear on where they stood and they were wishy-washy about it. But now we have a president who openly has said that they are backing up Israel. That's right. Iran can come to the table.

They've been given many, many, many opportunities to come and talk and make a deal. But if they're going to refuse that deal and if they're going to still be stubborn about it, this is going to be bad. That's right. That's right. You know, President Trump actually warned Iran, like, hey, you better come to a deal before there's nothing left of you.

And I think we've forgotten that that's how strong leaders are supposed to put bullies in their place. We've tried so long for, I don't even want to call it diplomacy and negotiation because I don't think it was really that. I think it was just cowardice wrapped up in this touchy-feely diplomacy. But before all these airstrikes happened, you know, President Trump warned them. He said, look, if you don't come to a deal right now, it's going to end up bad for you.

Right. And it didn't happen. Right. There's this idea where that's harsh or that's mean, but that really, that's what it takes to lead and to lead well, to lead with boldness, to lead with courage and conviction. That leadership that says, hey, we're standing together.

You are welcome to come to the table so long as you come on our terms. But if you don't agree to that, we're offering you a chance. If you don't. Agree to that. Just know you're standing in opposition.

I saw, I saw a TikTok one time where this dude, I mean, he was a young guy. He was like a young urban guy, but he was like, What do y'all think war is? Like, because it was when it was when President Trump, the Zelensky guy, the guy that came into the White House dressed in like a track suit or something, and a bunch of people got on President Trump and were like, He's just bullying other nations. And this dude on TikTok was like, What do y'all think war is? You think it's just bullies fighting?

This is war. Yeah, you don't come, you don't come in here. And so, anyway, I just thought that was really funny. Like, well, I think that brings up a larger point that you're making, John. Like, we have been so removed from wartime for many, many years.

We're unfamiliar with the concept. We don't recognize it when it. When it appears in front of us. Yeah, so this has been coming a long time. This has been happening for decades.

Iran has been doing everything possible to attack Israel. I mean, think about all the proxies that Iran uses against Israel and other free nations. Hamas.

Well, let's begin with Hezbollah, the biggest one. And then there is Hamas. And then there's Palestinian Jihad. And then there are the Houthis in Yemen. I mean, all these are the proxies.

That's how Iran works. They don't have a very strong Air Force. Their planes are coming from the time of, you know, thank President Jimmy Carter for that, whatever those planes were. I mean, that's where it is. The Navy is not that great.

So the only way they can do whatever they do is either by long-range missiles, and that's where they were headed, to have nuclear power or to. M Uh arm And support and abet these kinds of terrorist groups, and not just towards Israel, but in other Arab nations around there, too. They constantly are causing trouble. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think we've learned, you know, hopefully, I would say us in America, but it seems Israel certainly learned from the mistakes that the West has made where you see these countries arming themselves and you do nothing. You know what I mean? I mean, Iran becoming a nuclear superpower is not a good thing. And everybody knows it's not a good thing, but nobody wants to say that it's not a good thing. Yeah.

I mean, it goes back to the time when President Obama had the perfect opportunity to do something about it, but instead he took away those sanctions against Iran. And that. We are partly in the mess we are right now, not only because of Jimmy Carter's period, but also because of Obama's leadership. It really caused a lot of trouble.

So, today, when people get up and say, we know this and this, I mean, this is coming, this is Obama's gift. What are some of the issues that have arisen as a result of his inaction or his removal of those restrictions against Iran? I mean, just think about what happened on October of 2023 when Israel was brutally attacked. This ring of fire, right? That's what they did.

Iran is behind the ring of fire against Israel, coming from the south, that's Hamas directed, coming from the north, Hezbollah. They were going to just suffocate Israel. I mean, that's what they were trying to do. And And so Um When that happened, Israel, of course, just like this, the name of this rising lion, they stood up, they fought back. Yes.

I mean, imagine that. Even when they didn't have a complete and total support from America. I mean, of course, they're saying behind the scenes that we're going to support, but then they would tie up their hands, constantly tie up their hands. And so. Finally, they're speaking out.

And again, you know how we believe. We don't believe that God hates Arabs. He doesn't hate people in Gaza. Of course not. But we want peace.

But we cannot sit back and let Israel, where Jewish people are trying to build a nation and have been for some time, and also a lot of Americans, I mean, hundreds of thousands of Americans are there and their lives are in danger. We cannot sit back and say, well, well, that's that's you know, right, you know, it is what it is. And Israel is fighting for its life. Israel's fight in the backbone of their show. I really appreciate something that.

So, this is the quote I just saw just now. This is coming from Yekhail Leiter. I hope I'm pronouncing that right, but he's the Israeli ambassador to the United States. He said this: He said, Maybe now the Iranians will be in a better position to actually succumb and give up on their nuclear program. But if not, we are committed to seeing this operation through to the point where there is no nuclear weapons program left in Iran.

Right. As long as we have anything to do with it, you will not have a nuclear program. Yeah. And I mean, this is not something that Israel decided to do last month or last week. This immediately was put into action, I believe, for a long time, but it really.

was activated after 2023 attack against Israel. And Mossad is very involved in it. I mean, they're down there. on the grounds. They're their um uh everything they need to destroy and and put these things into action, the drones, whatever, uh, are there.

And they have been very Carefully targeting these sites, and also the leadership that is not willing to stand up to this regime that has been there for decades, I mean, five decades. Five decades. That's insane. Gosh. I'm seeing a lot of reports where Iraq is actually urging Iran to continue talks with the U.S.

Like, hey, Maybe don't retaliate. Maybe don't do this. Because I think that was the one thing that they said. It was like, all right, we're going to make Israel pay for this. And it looks like, from what, just from what I'm seeing, that Iraq is saying, hey, don't do that.

A lot of people lump, I feel like, Iraq and Iran together. They kind of like think about that as one entity. What is the significance about Iraq urging Iran to continue? Great, great question.

So. Islam is basically divided between Sunni and Shiite.

Okay, and this is based on the leadership that followed going back to the time of Muhammad. And so there is the family l leadership, more the Shiites support that, and the Sunni leadership, which was sort of his successor to take Islam to the next generation, whatever.

So these are the two branches. The Sunnis are the more of the conservative type. And when I say conservative, we're not talking about morality here. Right, right. Conservative means sticking to strict obedience and keeping the rule of Islam or the the The five pillars, or whatever, you know, keeping that.

The Shiite side is not like liberal. Don't think conservative, liberal as in the labels we use here. Right, right. But Shiites are more open to. largely speaking, to um Certain passionate devotion to certain saints.

You know, they mean they will fight for them. I mean, you know, you will if you ever Google them, you'll find the the the Feast of Muharram, where they are lamenting for Hassan and Hussein, who were you know, who were killed at the Battle of Kerbala. And so th they're very emotionally driven section or sect of of Islam. How they originated is a different issue, but what here has become very emotional. emotionally uh driven people yeah uh uh as part of Islam.

I'm just kind of being as simplistic as possible. Right, right, right.

So Iraq is also, I would say, majority Shiites. Iran is Shiite. Mostly most people there are from the Shiite side. Iraq is also mostly Shiite, but there is a good number of Sunnis there. Until Saddam Hussein, and Saddam Hussein was, I would say, probably more like an atheist, you know.

part of the bots party, but Uh Until that point. The Sunni leadership controlled the nation. which is majority Shiites.

Okay, so Sunni minority controlling majority Shiites, that's Iraq. Sh Iran. Mostly Shiites. Yeah. That's insane.

Yeah. So that's what's happening.

So when Iraq is saying to Iran, I mean, they are sort of. If the Shiites are talking to them, they're saying, you know, hey, look, y let's let's let's end this thing. Yeah. Yeah. Back in the eighties, I don't know if you all remember that, or maybe you don't, there was the Iraq Iran war and it was quite devastating and Iraq was sort of On top at that point in that war, or at least was able to survive.

And that's kind of weird because a Sunni minority fighting against a Shiite majority. Knowing that your own population, many of them are also Shias. It's kind of a weird situation. But also, Iranians are not Arabs. Mm.

And they're quick to point that out. We're not Arabs. They're a different group of people. What are they? They're not Arabs?

They're not Arabs.

So, most of the Arabs, you will find, of course, Saudi Arabia and you have Yemen. They will also say we're not quite Arabs, but okay. Jordanians, Palestinians are really Arabs.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah. Would Palestinians claim that? Would they say they're Arabs? They know they are.

Okay.

Okay.

They know they are.

Whether they claim it or not is another. They are Arabs and they were Arabs who were living in Israel. And when the Jewish people wanted to go back, they opposed them. And. The other Arab countries all around them could have easily said, Oh, come on over.

You are our people, and I guess the Jewish people are back. Come on over. No, but they made it into a Palestinian state. Right. Or you are now a Palestinian.

Well, there was no such category a couple hundred years ago, or even less. Right, right. I was there a hundred years ago. There was no Palestinian state.

So, anyways. Arab nations, Jordan is Arab, some of those other Bahrain, these are all Arab nations.

So That's what Iraq is uh Sorta. Arab but surah On more Towards the Persian side, but Iran. I would say mostly Persian background. Not Arab at all. Yeah.

You know, I didn't know this, but um, at least that's what the Iranian people will tell you. They're we're Persians. Yeah. We're actually getting live updates right now. At the time of recording this, a half hour ago, the Pentagon positioned warships.

Around the Middle East. There's warships, there's military assets. The USS Thomas Hudner, which is a destroyer, is actually being positioned in the eastern Mediterranean to protect Israel. I didn't know that.

So the US is. I guess indirectly. Yeah, indirectly, but also actively showing its presence. That's right. Please don't try anything because you will be in a bad place.

Having said that, this radical regime that is controlling Iran. Uh it's it's That regime is the problem for the Iranian people. They are the problem for the Iranian people. They're not helping the Iranian people. The ones who are in power.

In the power and have been for decades now. How do you untangle a mess like that? I mean, they have to go. That regime has to go. And Jimmy Carter, you didn't do us any favors there.

So, what did Jimmy Carter do for some of our younger listeners who don't know?

Well, when the Shah's rule came to an end, and that was the time of democracy, freedom, a lot of advancements that was happening. And so, when this radical Muslim movement began to take over and try to oust the Shah, America should have stood with the Shah, and they were allies.

Now, is that Shah any relation to your last name, to Abadan Shah?

Well, I won't say that that Shah was necessarily our relation, but it's coming from that kind of background.

Sorry, I apologize. What I meant was. Is the title related to your family? It's a title. It's coming from that part of the world.

Gotcha, gotcha.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah. Not were they are they related to your family, but just is the your relative? The term Shah, is it related to your last name, Shah? Yeah, Shah means king.

Okay, gotcha. I am a king, Your Majesty. Gotcha. Yeah, there in India, there are two kinds of Shahs. There are the Gujarati Shahs, and then there are this small group of people who come from Muslim background who are Shahs, and they're not the typical Muslims.

They're coming because. They were rulers. Yeah. So Shah is the name of rulers. See, it's helpful, I think, to know that because we had a guest on the podcast before who actually was from Pakistan.

And we went downstairs. We were taking pictures and stuff. And they were very, very nice guys. Very, very nice guys and very respectful. And somehow the conversation turned to that, to like politics in India and in Pakistan.

And he said, but I knew when we were talking to a Shah that this was a man to be treated with respect. And I was like, oh, really? And they were like, yes, and that's a big deal in India. You talk to a Shah, you talk with respect. Yeah.

I said, oh, that's funny.

So I guess when you were talking about the Shahs in Jimmy Carter's time, I didn't know if that was related anymore. Yeah, the Shah of Iran was, of course, that name is part of the ruling. small ruling minority. And so when Jimmy Carter did not back the Shah, who was an ally of our nation and of the Western world, Then pretty much it was done. And this radical Muslim group came to power, and that's the end of the Iranian people.

You know, when we see what's happening in Iran, what is happening, it may seem like, oh, we're attacking or Israel is attacking these nuclear facilities. No, we are liberating the people. That's right. We're liberating the people, giving them a chance to breathe again. I think we get so romanticized with stories of like the French Revolution or stuff like that, or even the American Revolution.

I know they're totally different, but I guess what I'm saying is we get so romanticized where you're like, countries have to liberate themselves. And if anybody else gets involved, the people fight for their own revolution. But those stories, even though they happened and they're significant or whatever, at the end of the day, not every country can do that. No, they cannot do that. And if we're supposed to be a guiding light for other nations, we have to do stuff like that.

So that raises a good question. Why us? Why does America need to intervene? I mean, definitely, because here is. The most vibrant democracy in the Middle East fighting for its existence.

I mean, if this was just like nothing had happened and they're living peacefully and they're living peacefully, hey, don't touch us and we won't touch you, we would say, okay, I guess.

Sorry for you or any people. This is your life. I hope it works out for you. But when you fund and not just fund like financially, you are equipping these terrorist groups to attack this nation. And not just that was October 2023 was just one big evidence to the world.

of how Iran has been doing things. But they've been doing that for a long time. A lot of people have died. A lot of people have been killed. Those drone attacks constantly I mean, even now they've they fired off some drones.

I think it's just to sort of appease their people. Hey, we did fire back. Yeah, I think you're right. Those drones, you know, takes about eight hours for them to make it to Israel. Nothing's gonna happen with them.

They'll get intercepted. But still having to live in that kind of fear. And and having to bury your loved ones because there's this radical regime in Iran. Wants to wipe out Israel. I mean, that's their goal.

Yes, of course. Wipe out Israel. It's not just a. Talking point. What are we going to do?

We're going to wipe out Israel. Yeah. Uh-huh. That's, okay, vote for us, okay? No, they actually believe in this cause.

And they have a plan to do it. Yeah. Yes. And nuclear weapons means they have the ability to do it. That's right.

But it's not just wiping out Israel, they also. Hate the other thing. You know, they talk about Israel as the thing and America as the other thing. They want to wipe out America as well. From the face of the earth.

Yeah. So, it is personal. Oh, yeah. So, that was my question: like, why does it then become our issue if they're targeting Israel? Yes, we are allies with Israel.

Right. Why does America need to step in and intervene? Because there's larger issues at play. We would be next as a target for them. Yeah, they don't just say death to Israel, they also say death to America.

That's right, that's exactly right. The little Satan and the big Satan. It's like, okay.

So, then we don't really trust you with nuclear weapons, and you are threatening and you're doing things, and you're really speeding up your nuclear program. Could it be a month? Could it be six months when you're ready to fire these long-range missiles with tons of ammunition and nuclear warheads? I mean, that could fall right here in Henderson. I mean, and that's why this is such a big deal.

That's why we wanted to talk about this because as of last Friday. The nuclear program in Iran is more or less non-existent. It was wild. I would say this way: it's not non-existent yet. And maybe it is by the time this thing airs, because Iran is a big country.

So these nuclear facilities are sort of spread out over Iran. And so some major targets have been taken out. Their leadership, the top brass, several of them have been taken out. But it's not over yet. This is I would say more like this is just the beginning.

Of Taking down their nuclear program. Do you think that the beginning of the fight or the beginning of the end? I would say beginning of the fight. I don't think it's going to be much of a fight.

Okay.

Iran doesn't have the capability of fighting other than the nuclear weapons. Right. They cannot fight. Even Israel. If you go by just technology, they cannot.

whether air or navy, they cannot do that.

Now if you go by their military forces, they have a very, very large military force.

So that is the only thing. But the thing that they have, which we should Should fear, and Israel is right, and America is right in backing Israel, is the fact that they have long-range missiles. But with those long-range missiles, there also comes the, I guess, the assurance of retaliation from the West. Do you think that's the only thing that's keeping them? from from launching them at at the moment?

Yeah, I mean they know that uh something's gonna happen. Yeah. Something will happen and it's not gonna be good. You you know, they have a choice. The Ayathollah has a choice.

Either he gets hi g starts firing these missiles In the air and risk having these American warships completely decimate everything. Or he can Fuss and fight and fire drones and have all of that destroyed and then try to rebuild it.

So it's like a pick your poison. Pick your poison. Either you can fight. and then it'll be done. Or you can um uh try to do this this you know verbal Argument stuff, posturing, and then maybe you may have something to build back.

Either way, their time is up. We have about five minutes left before we have to wrap up, but you know, I mean, it's coming where Israel is going to catch criticism from this, especially from some of the European countries. Yes, that's the polite way to say it. Yeah, and to me, it's very shameful when European countries. Uh support Regimes like this, the Iranian regime, it doesn't make sense to me.

What is it? Is it anti-Semitism that you're still struggling with? Maybe you need to get over that.

So, I don't know what their deal is, but they need to quickly make their positions known. Right. and let the world know where they stand. We don't stand with Iran. We don't stand with North Korea.

We don't stand with China. We don't stand with Putin and Russia. We need to go ahead and quickly lay out You would think that the twentieth century would have taught us What to look for. And, you know, we love to bring that up. And when I say we, I'm talking about like young liberal Americans.

They love to point out the evils of the 20th century with Hitler and with Stalin and all those guys.

Okay.

But what they're doing is they're taking that caricature and putting it on the wrong side and saying these people, the actual oppressors, they're the oppressed. Israel is the one oppressing them.

Well, it's just the opposite. And the reason we ended up having World War II is because after World War I, there were nations who were sitting back and saying, well, let's not fight anymore, man. This is not the way to resolve conflicts. This is not the way. And they sat back and watched a Nazi regime in Germany grow and become strong to the point of.

Almost indestructible if America hadn't stepped into the battle. That's right. Europe could not stand a chance, didn't have a chance to fight back against Germany and Nazi Germany. And so. What was the result?

Well World War II. The death of millions of people, of course, six million Jewish people, but millions of other people also died. That's right. So not to support Israel, not to support the U. S.

even the US is indirectly involved. US is more like I'm here, I'm standing watch, but Israel is really spearheading all of this. not to support them. is doing the same thing that happened That caused World War II. That's right.

Some people looking at this have used the language of like, this is the start of World War III. Like, this is the next global conflict. Do you think that's true? I would say. Uh World War Three What's going to happen?

And Iran was behind it. And China was behind it. And North Korea was still behind it. And Russia is with that smug smile is also behind it. I mean, this World War three, we were ready for it.

If this would not have happened.

So Israel Doing what they're doing, they're doing the world a favor. Yeah, they're not the ones facilitating this. Yeah, and and definitely we need to pray. Pray for, of course, Israel, pray for our troops that are everywhere, pray for the Iranian people. In fact, I would love to do an episode on Persia and the Bible because people need to hear about.

Maybe the next show we can talk about that Persia and the Bible and how in end times. The Persian people will matter. Iran will matter in end times prophecy. Man, I love it.

So good.

So helpful for us in thinking about the current state of events and where we as believers should stand. You guys enjoyed today's episode. Write in and let us know. 252-582-5028. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible.

Don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes. You can always support us financially at ClearviewTodayshow.com. John, what are you leaving listeners with today? We're approaching 14,000 followers on Pray.com. I really cannot believe I'm even saying that right now, but we are so grateful to everybody who's listening on Pray.com.

Maybe you're listening there right now. We want you to continue to follow Dr. Abadan Shah, continue to give and support the ministry right here at Clearview Church. We're so, so grateful for your support. That's right.

We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clearview Today.