The threat was not delivered in the shadows or through anonymous channels. It came openly, from the floor of Iran’s parliament, issued by Hamidreza Haji Babaei, the deputy speaker of the Majlis, and it named its target without ambiguity. Babaei warned that any new American “mistake” against Iran would be met with a “decisive” response, adding a chilling promise:
“In about a month, we will recite the funeral prayer for Trump, the United States, and their allies.” The timing of the statement, the identity of the speaker, and the precision of the language elevate this beyond routine Iranian bluster and place it firmly in the category of an explicit threat against the sitting president of the United States. But it also links it to Purim, when evil men threatening the Jews have their nefarious plans backfire.
Babaei’s words were not spoken in a vacuum. They were delivered against the backdrop of escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran, Iran’s deepening coordination with terrorist proxies, and an Iranian regime that routinely frames its geopolitical struggle in theological terms. Yet the calendar adds a striking and unsettling layer. The “about a month” Babaei referenced aligns precisely with Purim, the Jewish holiday commemorating the survival of the Jewish people from a state-sponsored genocide planned in ancient Persia.
Purim records a moment when power, hatred, and timing converged. Haman, described in the Bible as an Agagite, secured royal authority from the Persian king Achashverosh to annihilate every Jew in the empire on a single, designated day. The date was fixed by lots, purim, giving the holiday its name. The decree was legal, sealed, and seemingly irreversible. Yet the entire plot collapsed. Haman was exposed, the Jews were saved, and the architect of genocide was executed on the very gallows he prepared for others. The Bible captures this reversal with brutal clarity: “the same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month that had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy. They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor” (Esther 9:22).
This concept of “transformation”, “V’nahafoch Hu” (וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא) in Hebrew, meaning “the opposite happened,” “it was reversed,” or “it was turned upside down”, is a central theme of Purim. Used in the Purim story to describe how Haman’s decree of destruction was turned into a day of celebration. It represents a “hidden miracle” where natural events appear to shift suddenly for the good, reflecting divine intervention in human affairs, symbolizing hope in hopeless situations, encouraging the belief that, even in dark times, situations can turn for the better. The phrase is central to Purim, where it is common to reverse roles, wear costumes, or act in “upside down” ways to reflect this reversal.
The Sages understood Purim as more than a historical escape. They saw it as a pattern. When enemies of Israel cloak their violence in certainty and confidence, when dates are set and threats are pronounced, the apparent strength of the decree often masks its fragility. Power that presents itself as inevitable invites collapse. Iran’s leadership regularly casts itself as the heir to ancient Persia, and Babaei’s threat, whether consciously or not, echoes the same Persian arrogance that believed Jewish survival could be scheduled and executed at will.
Purim ends with enemies exposed, schemes overturned, and the Jewish people standing when their destroyers fall. That is not sentiment. It is a recurring fact recorded in the Bible and observed across history. Iran’s leaders may believe they are choosing the moment of their adversaries’ demise. The Purim story teaches that those who make such calculations are often marking their own defeat.
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