How Powerful is Persia in Ezekiel 38?

on Thursday, April 9, 2026 by

The joint 2025-2026 war campaigns conducted in coordination with Israel and the USA against Iran is prompting some of today’s Bible prophecy experts to rethink Persia’s role in Ezekiel 38. A legitimate question to ask is, Is Persia Powerless and Proxy-less in Ezekiel 38?

For several years, I have been pointing out the possibility that Persia might be militarily degraded and exist without its proxies by the time it enlists in the Gog of Magog coalition identified in Ezekiel 38:1-6. This hypothesis was based primarily upon the following three reasons, which will be explained in this article:

1. Elam is omitted and not listed alongside Persia in Ezekiel 38:5,

2. In Ezekiel 38:8, 11 Israel is dwelling safely without the threat of a nuclear Iran or its proxies,

3. Persia is not identified in the coalition until Ezekiel 38:5.

REASON #1: Elam is omitted and not listed alongside Persia in Ezekiel 38:5

Modern-day Iran got its name in 1935, but historically it consisted of the territories of Elam and Persia as identified on the map. Iran is the subject of dual end time prophecies. The disaster in Elam is described in Jeremiah 49:34-39 and the Gog of Magog invasion of Israel is written in Ezekiel 38-39.

The fifty-two verses in Ezekiel 38-39 provide some of the most literally descriptive predictions within the entire Bible. It precisely identifies the invaders, their motives, their defeats, the Lord’s divine intervention and purposes and the sequence of aftermath events.

 If you are unfamiliar with the prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39 you can become enlightened by reading my article available at www.prophecydepot.com entitled, “An Overview of Ezekiel 38 and 39.”

The Ezekiel 38 Invaders

“Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmahfrom the far north and all its troops—many people are with you. (Ezekiel 38:1-6)

Since the details are so specific about the nine participants in the coalition of Ezekiel 38:1-6, it’s safe to conclude that any historic people groups such as, Edomites, Elamites, Ammonites, Moabites etc. are not members of this confederacy.

The likely reason these historic populations are omitted from the Magog coalition is because they will have already been defeated in fulfillment of their own prophetic wars. The Elamites in Jeremiah 49:34-39 and the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites etc. in Psalm 83.

Psalm 83 identifies an entirely different confederacy as depicted in the image. These confederates want to wipe Israel off the map and banish the name of Israel forever.

“They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more. For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah ” (Psalm 83:4-8)

The Prophecy of Elam (Jeremiah 49:34-39)

“The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, The foremost of their (military) might. Against Elam I will bring the four winds From the four quarters of heaven, And scatter them toward all those winds; There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies And before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger,’ says the Lord; ‘And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them. I will set My throne in Elam, And will destroy from there the king and the princes, (leaders or officials),’ says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 49:34-39, NKJV; emphasis added)

 For a commentary on the Elam prophecy you can read my article entitled, “Iran’s Prophesied Disaster, Regime Change and Dispersion.”

As the above article title suggests, Elam, (southwestern Iran), will experience a disaster resulting in a widescale dispersion of the Iranians residing in the affected territory. If this prophecy happens before Ezekiel 38, this could be why Elam is conspicuously omitted from the Ezekiel 38 coalition.

Persia would still exist to take part in Ezekiel 38, but since it’s also part of Iran today it would likely be adversely affected by the Elam disaster by association. Thus far, this turns out to be the case today.

Likewise, Iran’s proxies Hezbollah (the inhabitants of Tyre) in Lebanon and Hamas (ancient Philistia) in Gaza would be unlisted from Ezekiel’s confederacy as a result of the fulfillment of Psalm 83.

If Ezekiel 38-39 is nearing, then it’s safe to conclude as I have forewarned, that Persia in Ezekiel 38 might be militarily degraded and without its proxies by the time it enlists in the Gog of Magog coalition.

Due to the fact that many of today’s top prophecy teachers don’t consider Jeremiah 49:34-39 nor Psalm 83, with its climactic conclusion in Zechariah 12:1-6, as future unfulfilled Bible prophecies, they did not foresee a potentially degraded Persia entering into the Ezekiel 38 equation.

A case in point is this quote below from the popular prophecy teacher Amir Tsarfati. Tsarfati was dismissing Jeremiah 49:34-39 as a future war prophecy claiming it had been historically fulfilled.

“Moreover, if one claims that Elam represents Iran and that it has already been “broken,” how then does Persia appear later as a key member of the coalition in Ezekiel 38? Scripture must interpret Scripture consistently.”

This quote was brought to my attention from an emailer who stated, “I ran across this by Amir Tsarfati today, (March 1, 2026), on his Telegram channel and would be interested to know how you would respond to his comments.”

My response to this emailer on March 3, 2026 was;

“Why can’t Persia appear later to become a member of the Ezekiel 38 coalition? Persia is not the subject of Jermiah’s prophecy of Elam. Persia  will still exist, but likely as a weaker population after the fulfillment of Jer. 49:34-38. Presently, as a result of the USA and Israel “Operation Epic Fury,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has already become severely weakened.

Notice that Iran is identified down the list of the Ezekiel 38 coalition with Ethiopia and not alongside the top with Russia and Turkey. This may support the theory that Iran is a weaker member in the coalition.”

REASON #2: In Ezekiel 38:8, 11 Israel is dwelling safely without the threat of a nuclear Iran or its proxies

“After many days you (Gog of Magog) will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.” (Ezekiel 38:8, NKJV; emphasis added) 

“You (Gog of Magog) will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.’” (Ezekiel 38:11, NKJV; emphasis added) 

These verses clearly state that Israel is dwelling tranquilly when the Russian led coalition invades, which infers Israel is no longer fearful of a nuclear attack from Iran or its proxies. This seemingly implies that:

  1. 1. Iran no longer has a nuclear weapons program with long range ballistic missile launching capabilities, nor advanced enriched uranium at their disposal,

Additionally, this safe dwelling Israel tears down its walls, bars and gates, which suggests the Palestinian conflict gets resolved somehow before Ezekiel 38. Some believe the resolution to the Palestinian plight results from either the Abraham Accords or the Daniel 9:27 covenant that gets confirmed by the antichrist, but a political answer to this conflict is not biblically endorsed.

Dr. Mark Hitchcock believed Israel’s tranquility in Ezekiel 38:8, 11 was achieved by the Daniel 9:27 covenant, but recognizing what’s happening militarily in the Middle East he has posited another possibility. Below is a quote by him from his YouTube show entitled, “Ballistic Missiles and Biblical Visions…How Will Israel Respond?” | Marking the End Times

“Ezekiel 38 says that when Russia, Iran, Turkey and their allies come into Israel in the end times that Israel’s going to be at rest and living securely. Now I’ve often believed and taught mostly that I think this will be a result of the Antichrist coming and making a 7-year treaty (Daniel 9:27) with Israel. But with what’s happening right now, think about it if the dominoes begin to fall with Hamas, if Israel is able to neutralize Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis and say that Israel is able to deal a death blow to Iran and that there’s regime change in Iran… and that all these proxies then become dismantled Israel could enjoy a peace like they’ve never had up to this period of time. They could really create this peace.”

Hitchcock is suggesting Israel’s tranquility might be achieved militarily, which is scripturally supported  according to several apparently pre-Ezekiel 38 unfulfilled Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) war prophecies below.

REASON #3: Persia is not identified in the coalition until Ezekiel 38:5

Reason number three that reinforced my view of a potentially defanged Iran in Ezekiel 38  is that Persia was not identified atop the list of Magog invaders alongside Russia and Turkey. We find Persia’s placement in Ezekiel 38:5 next to the less powerful countries of Libya and Ethiopia.

Candidly, I put less emphasis in this reason than the other two but perhaps it’s worth an honorable mention.

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