Conflict between Iran and the U.S. has resumed, despite the efforts of President Donald Trump to secure peace in the troubled region. According to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the U.S. military conducted “a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran” on Sunday, successfully striking “dozens” of targets. At issue is Iran’s continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage for the shipment of oil globally. “The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade. Iran does not control it,” a statement from CENTCOM read. “U.S. forces are postured and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available to commercial shipping despite Iran’s continued unwarranted aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations.”

Over the past year, the U.S. involvement in the Middle East has largely centered on Iran’s threats against Israel. This time, however, Israel does not appear to be a party to the conflict, which, as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee pointed out in an interview on “This Week on Capitol Hill” on Saturday, is probably a good thing. “Israel has not been engaged in it, and it’s probably smart that Iran does not fire missiles toward Israel because they would be compelled to fire them back,” Huckabee said, following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also warned that Iran is more than just a threat to Israel, but also to the U.S.

“You have to separate Hezbollah from the mothership of Iran, and the reason that’s so important is because Iran has been supplying funds and weapons and strategy” to the Middle Eastern paramilitary organization, Huckabee said. He noted that cutting Iran off from Hezbollah would destabilize the latter and severely limit the threat that Hezbollah could pose. Furthermore, he pointed out that Hezbollah is active across the Western hemisphere and has actually killed more Americans than Israelis. “When the U.S. and people in America say, ‘Well, it doesn’t affect me,’ they have no idea what they’re talking about. Of course it affects them,” the ambassador insisted. “If you can step on the oxygen hose and keep Hezbollah from getting all of this oxygen from Iran, you do a lot to really upend terror…”

“One of the ways in which, again, Americans, I think, fail to grasp the threat of Iran — for 47 years they’ve been saying they’re going to kill us. Now, when people tell you that same thing over and over for that many years, you’re wise to believe them and you’re foolish to ignore them,” Huckabee added. He pointed out that recent reports from Israeli intelligence suggest that Iranian operatives inside the U.S. are plotting to assassinate the president.

On Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz confirmed that Iranian operatives are actively plotting to assassinate the president. “I won’t get into specific intelligence, but this regime — going all the way up to the Ayatollah — has plotted to kill President Trump for many years,” Waltz stated. “They have operatives here in the United States. Plots are ongoing. But our intelligence community, the FBI, our law enforcement entities are absolutely on top of it,” he added. “But make no mistake that the Iranian regime is trying to kill President Trump and those around him.”

According to Waltz, the Iranian regime is attempting to “use the global economy as some type of leverage” by blocking the Strait of Hormuz and preventing safe passage for commercial craft. “What Iran is doing is in violation of international law,” the ambassador said. “Regardless of whether you’re a party to some conflict, you cannot start shooting in all directions, attacking your neighbors, attacking civilian shipping, civilian infrastructure, throwing mines in international waterways, and acting like the irresponsible, genocidal regime that many have always accused it of being.” He noted that Iranian officials claimed that opening fire upon commercial ships over the weekend was a mistake, an error on the part of junior officers. However, Waltz questioned why those junior officers were not disciplined by a military regime renowned for dictatorial autocracy. He asked, “At the end of the day, where’s the discipline and the public apology if that’s the case?”

In the meantime, this growing divide on Israel here at home misses a fundamental point, Perkins insisted. “Israel is also, despite reports to the contrary, a stabilizing force in the Middle East. But what we see on the horizon with Iran as really kind of the strongman — or at least the big nuisance there in the Middle East being curtailed — that vacuum is going to be filled by someone, some country, some leader. I think Israel has the potential to be an even greater stabilizing force [when that happens],” he told Huckabee. 

Perkins attributed the drift in the church away from Israel to “biblical illiteracy.” Huckabee agreed, reminding viewers that standing with Israel is “scriptural.” “I mean, I could give you a lot of geopolitical reasons. I could give you humanitarian reasons. I could give you historic reasons. I could give you economic reasons. And all of those are important, and all of them should weigh in,” the ambassador emphasized. “But the ultimate reason for evangelicals is because we’re people of the book.”

American Christians need to recognize “the important role that Israel plays [and] recognize Genesis 1:23 as a biblical mandate,” the ambassador said. “And some of it is the fear of some pulpits, [and] pastors who are afraid of their own congregations — afraid to offend them, afraid to upset them. But if you upset them because you’re preaching the Scripture, because you are faithfully delivering the Word of God, then you’re not in trouble in a bad way. If that gets you in trouble,” he insisted, “then you should be in trouble. The prophets of old were willing to get in trouble with the people, because they didn’t want to be in trouble with God. If that’s my choice, I’ll be in trouble with a congregation any day not to be in trouble with the Creator God of the universe,” Huckabee said.