Operation Epic Fury was launched on the night which, according to the Islamic calendar, is 11 September. It is a date that carries weight. That the USA and Israel chose precisely this night to strike at the heart of Iran’s theocracy can scarcely be dismissed as accidental. This is not merely geopolitics. It is a reckoning with a regime which for more than four decades has been the foremost exporter of political Islam.
President Trump’s intervention in Iran concerns several matters. Nuclear weapons, Israel’s security, peace in the Middle East. But the conflict also has a clear religious aspect. Islam is the elephant in the room, and to ignore it is becoming ever more difficult – even though European leaders are striving assiduously to do so.
The head of the serpent has been severed
The military strike by the USA and Israel is an assault on an ideological bloc which for decades has sought to shape both the Middle East and the West in its image.
For decades, Iran has functioned as a breeding ground for financing, theological legitimation, and strategic coordination of Islamist movements. This is not conspiracy theory, but documented reality. The Revolutionary Guard, the clergy, and their global networks have aimed to spread Islam – politically, militantly, and expansively.
President Donald Trump left no doubt as to the framework for the strike. In the brief speech after the attack began, he described the regime in Tehran as “the world’s leading state sponsor of terror”, and stated that the operation was directed at “the regime’s ability to threaten the United States and our allies”. He added that the USA “will not allow a radical Islamic regime to acquire the most dangerous weapons on earth”.
Then came the message on Truth Social, likewise brief and without circumlocution:
“Ali Khamenei is dead. He was one of the most evil men in history. The Iranian people now have their greatest opportunity ever to take back their country.”
With this, not only had a military operation been carried out. The very symbol of the Iranian clerical regime – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – was removed. And with him disappeared the head of Iran’s serpentine role within international terror.
The hour of retaliation
The symbolism of the date of Saturday’s action – 9/11 according to the Islamic calendar – gives the operation an additional dimension. It points backwards to another September day that changed the world, and forwards towards a possible new phase in the relationship between the West and political Islam.
By removing the religious leadership in Iran, the USA and Israel have taken a radical step which will have significance far beyond the region’s borders — particularly at a time when Islam’s influence in Western core areas is increasing.
At the same time, the reactions from European leaders reveal a restraint which in practice confirms that the West already stands deeply engaged in a cultural and civilisational struggle – a struggle over identity, values, and the political landscape of the future.
The timing of the strike – linked to the Islamic calendar’s 9/11 date – cannot be dismissed as accidental. It recalls a symbolic response to the ideological warfare which radical Islam has directed against the West for generations, and confronts Western leaders with the reality of a global religious and civilisational field of tension.
Self-assured Muslims
At home in the West, this field of tension is clearly visible. In New York, thousands of Muslims recently gathered for the fifth annual taraweeh prayer in the middle of Times Square. Twenty-four years have passed since the Islamic terrorist attacks that shaped the security policy of our time. The Muslims’ mass celebration in the USA’s largest city is striking. Not least because the city simultaneously holds annual commemorations of the victims of the Islamic terrorist attack. The images from this year’s taraweeh show a self-assured and growing Muslim presence. Palestinian flags and talk of “takeover” made the event resemble demonstrated political dominance more than the exercise of religion. A clip of an Islamic speaker during the event has gone viral in which he is quoted as saying: “With us, everything that is haram will be eradicated. We are a threat.”
New York has now also acquired its first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani. His reaction to Operation Epic Fury ought to surprise no one. On X he wrote:
“This is an illegal war of aggression. New Yorkers do not want another catastrophic escalation that will cost innocent lives and draw us into an endless conflict.”
While Iranians in New York celebrated America’s strike on the ayatollah regime, the far left (non-Iranians) took to the streets to protest against the same. Such is the confusion the West has become – in one and the same city.
Islam grows, Europe recoils
Europe is experiencing a similar field of tension. The mainstream media’s compass bids them direct their criticism towards the USA and Israel. The politicians attempt the feat of riding two horses at once: both condemning an oppressive Iranian regime and at the same time avoiding criticism of Islam. Ursula von der Leyen published several messages on X in the hours after the strike. In all the messages she omitted both the USA and Israel and any explicit support for the operation. This produced vague formulations such as:
“We will continue to work closely with all our regional partners to safeguard regional stability and security and protect civilian lives.”
Other European leaders quickly followed the same pattern and borrowed words and expressions from one another: The British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned Iran’s destabilising actions in the region, but at the same time emphasised that the United Kingdom did not participate in the strike and would work for de-escalation and the protection of civilians. Jonas Gahr Støre “urged all parties to show restraint and promptly resume diplomatic talks in order to find a solution to the conflict”. Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide described the situation as “dramatic and unclear”.
A picture emerges of a Europe standing on the sidelines – or perhaps behind the curtain. An EU which was neither informed nor involved in the operation.
Europeans’ distance from Operation Epic Fury may signify more than caution in foreign policy. It may be an expression of a Western political culture which in practice has allowed itself to be shaped by an ever larger portion of its own Muslim communities – a development observable in all parts of Europe. While the USA under Trump acts militarily against theocracies that seek to expand their influence, European leaders respond primarily with warnings against escalation, at the same time as Islam’s presence in the West grows.
Which path will the West choose?
Trump’s administration has on several occasions warned that the Islamisation of European countries may constitute a security risk for the USA. When Washington now acts without visible European anchoring, this may be interpreted as an expression that Europe is no longer regarded as strategically reliable in matters touching political Islam.
During a speech at the National Conservatism conference in July 2024, J.D. Vance stated that the United Kingdom could become the first “truly Islamist country” with nuclear weapons. There was an absolute seriousness in the remark.
Operation Epic Fury is therefore more than an air strike. It is a demonstration of power – vis-à-vis the Islamic world, which is becoming ever bolder in laying claim to its new homelands in the West. It is also a display of strength towards Europe, which appears evasive, weak, and conflict-averse. The USA is a NATO country. Iran has now fired upon an American target. In theory, Washington may demand allied support. Perhaps this too is a test of loyalty.
For many in the West, the religious war is the true nerve of the matter. Concern about the Islamisation of our societies is not marginal. It is widespread, albeit often unspoken in official fora. When a regime which has functioned as an ideological and financial hub for political Islam is struck so hard, it is experienced as more than geopolitics. It is experienced as a turning point.
If the Iranian people now in fact liberate themselves from the clerical regime, it may become a gamechanger. Not only for Iran, but for the entire Islamic world, and now also for a Europe which houses millions of Muslims.
The Iranian people are living witnesses that there is little joy to be found in an Islamic regime. After 47 long years they glimpse freedom and celebrate in intoxication of joy. But Europe is silent. We are silent, while our cities and streets glitter with garish Ramadan decorations and the calls to prayer resound over Europe’s rooftops and church spires.