The Anglican/Episcopal Archbishop in Jerusalem, the Most Rev. Hosam Naoum, has asked for fellow Anglicans around the world to “intercede on our behalf” as the war between Israel and Iran intensifies.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered a blistering air bombardment of Iran’s nuclear facilities and precision targeting of senior military figures. “Operation Rising Lion” began on June 13, when around 200 Israeli war planes dropped more than 300 bombs and missiles on 100 targets, including Iran’s nuclear facility in Natanz.
Since then, missiles have hit both countries daily. Israel said that at least 24 people have been killed in Iranian attacks and that 200 were wounded in an Iranian strike on the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. Iran denied targeting the hospital and claimed its target was “the large Command and Intelligence headquarters and the military intelligence camp in the Gav-Yam Technology Park” near the hospital.
Iran is not releasing regular casualty figures. Its last statement said that 240 people were killed and 1,277 wounded. The Washington-based Human Rights activists News Agency says the Iranian death toll is at least 639.
Roads out of Iran’s capital have been blocked as many Tehranis flee to other parts of the country. Most of Israel is subject to security restrictions imposed by the IDF’s Home Front Command. Gatherings have been prohibited and schools and businesses closed—effectively shuttering the country.
In Jerusalem, staff and residents of the Diocese of Jerusalem’s compound, which includes the archbishop’s office, St. George’s Cathedral and its guest house, have had to take refuge in bomb shelters once or twice a day.
The compound is in East Jerusalem, a majority-Palestinian neighborhood that is not thought to be directly targeted by Iran. The main danger to people in the area is understood to be from falling shrapnel and other debris from missiles shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
Because of the ban on public gatherings, last Sunday’s worship at St. George’s Cathedral was held entirely online. A slight easing of the restrictions now means that the cathedral is tentatively preparing to welcome up to 30 people on June 29.
Archbishop Naoum said the Israeli attacks in Iran have killed “innocent bystanders, including women and children” as well as military leaders and scientists; and that the Iranian reprisal had “brought destruction and tragic loss of life in Israel to both Jews and Arabs.”
He said: “Since that time, this terrifying situation has only intensified, with foreign powers now threatening to enter the conflict, further heightening tensions both regionally and across the globe.”
Iran and Israel both lie with the Anglican/Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East; as does the island of Cyprus, part of which is British sovereign territory, which houses both USAF and RAF bases. If President Trump orders the United State to join Israel’s attacks, Cyprus-based forces could be deployed.
The Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East includes three dioceses: Cyprus and the Gulf, Iran, and Jerusalem. In addition to Israel and Palestine, the Jerusalem diocese extends to Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
“Consequently, many of our church members have endured direct attacks, while a greater number now face the ominous prospect of cross-border escalations,” Archbishop Naoum said.
“In his Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus Christ boldly exclaimed to the gathered crowds, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’ Yet peacemaking during war is perhaps one of the most difficult things that we Christians are called to do. Where does one even begin?
“We can first of all lift up each other and the situation in prayer, imploring God to envelop us with his protective care. We can also seek his guidance for the leaders of nations, urging them to bring this violence to a swift conclusion. This would enable the many victims to receive necessary care and allow the warring parties to resolve their differences through peaceful negotiations held in good faith.
“Secondly, we can offer each other comfort and encouragement, building up each other through reassuring words about our Lord’s promise of salvation to his people, precisely as St. Paul exhorted the Thessalonians.
“Finally, we can look to the Holy Spirit for empowerment to become bridge builders within our local and regional communities, seeking to promote understanding, mutual respect, and goodwill.”
He said that in following the path of peace, Christians “must vigilantly guard against yielding to fear and despair. For this, we must again rely profoundly upon the graces of the Holy Spirit to both strengthen and empower us. As the Apostle further reminds us, ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’”
He added: “It is with these hope-filled words that I continue to hold each of you in my prayers, earnestly seeking God’s sustained blessings upon all members throughout our Province and, indeed, beyond.
“Furthermore, I extend an invitation to our fellow Anglicans across the wider Communion, as well as all those of goodwill, to intercede on our behalf, that we might collectively be strengthened to embody the role of peacemakers as mutual members of the larger Body of Christ.”
Israel and Iran had been allies until the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran’s first “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, severed diplomatic relations with Israel, or “occupied Palestine,” as he called it. He handed Israel’s embassy in Tehran to the Palestine Liberation Organization and refused to recognize Israeli passports.
Khomeini helped to create the Lebanese-based Shiite militia group Hezbollah. It continues to fund Hezbollah and Hamas, which operates in Gaza and, to a lesser extent, the West Bank. Iran uses these two groups to attack Israel as part of a “proxy war” than has continued since the mid-1980s.
The two countries occasionally engage in direct acts of violence.
In April 2024, a rapidly convened coalition of the U.S. Air Force, the Royal Air Force, and French and Jordanian air forces joined forces with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to deploy fighter aircraft to intercept 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles fired by Iran toward Israel.
Iran said that attack was in retaliation for the killing of 16 people in an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Israel said the building was a base for the Quds forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Quds’ commander, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was killed in the attack.
In July 2024 Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in an explosion at the Tehran guest house where he was staying. Israel refused to confirm or deny its involvement until the country’s defense minister, Israel Katz, admitted it was responsible in December that year. The exact cause of the explosion remains unclear. Some reports say a bomb previously planted at the hotel was remotely detonated; other reports say it was hit by a drone or missile. In response, Iran launched more than 200 ballistic missiles toward Israel.
The latest campaign of heavy bombardment came at the conclusion of two months of negotiations between U.S. State Department officials and representatives from the Islamic Republic of Iran, over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful; but the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that Iran has also failed to provide any “technically credible explanations for the presence of [man-made] uranium particles” at several undeclared locations in the country.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that Iran “has also sought to sanitize the locations, which has impeded agency verification activities.”
He said Iran has stockpiled 400 kg of highly enriched uranium of 60 percent purity. For energy production, enrichment requires only to three to five percent. Nuclear weapons require enrichment to 90 percent.
On June 12, the day before Netanyahu ordered the attack on Iran, the IAEA said that Iran was in breach of its international nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years. Netanyahu said Iran could have produced “a nuclear weapon in a very short time—it could be a year, or it could be a few months.”
President Trump this week left the G7 meeting in Canada a day early for a meeting in the White House Situation Room with his national security and defense advisers to discuss possible U.S. involvement in the bombing campaign.
The U.K.’s foreign minister David Lammy flew to the States June 19 to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. From there, Lammy flew directly to Geneva for talks with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Also taking part in the discussions are the French and German foreign ministers, Jean-Noël Barrot and Johann Wadephul. The Vice President of the European Commission High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, is also expected to attend as the White House says that President Trump will make a decision on U.S. involvement in the conflict “in the next two weeks”.
Gavin Drake is a writer, editor, and producer at Church Street Bureau, a small company providing writing, editorial, and videography services.
