Influential evangelical leaders are divided over the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran, as conflict continues across the Middle East and debate grows over whether the framework strengthens U.S. leverage or risks harming Israel.
President Donald Trump recently threatened to re-escalate U.S. military strikes against Iran after Tehran continued attacks in the Strait of Hormuz after the regime launched strikes against Kuwait and Bahrain over the weekend, drawing condemnations from both Gulf neighbors.
The split is emerging at a delicate moment for Trump, who is trying to turn military pressure on Iran into a diplomatic framework without alienating supporters who helped power his political coalition. Supporters of the MOU say Trump has earned trust because he weakened Tehran first, while critics say any deal that gives Iran relief before its threat to Israel is permanently neutralized risks betraying the alliance his base expects him to protect.
Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem and a close evangelical ally of Trump, told Fox News Digital that many people are underestimating the American president.
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“The facts are that Donald Trump was key to ending the Gaza war, he was key to getting hostages out of there, and he was key in breaking the back of the Iranian regime, including destroying its navy, air force, missile defense and leadership,” Evans said.
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There are 750 million Bible-believing Christians around the world who identify as Zionists, Evans said, adding that while they may disagree on Israeli political issues, they agree that Israel is the biblical homeland given by God to the Jewish people through Abraham.
While running for president, Trump met with Christian groups, including Evans, and asked whether they would support him, Evans said, adding that they agreed on the condition that he support Christian values in the United States and stands by the State of Israel.
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“He promised to do both and so far he’s exceeded all of our expectations,” Evans said.
“Israel is willing to shed its blood for America in the Middle East. America needs to do everything possible to support the State of Israel. We, as believers, believe that God birthed this nation. We don’t have any fear about Israel’s future,” he added.
U.S. officials worked with the Israel Defense Forces to complete Operation Epic Fury in February, which was a 38-day effort to dismantle the Iranian regime’s military capabilities.
“Following the historic destruction of Iran’s military capabilities through the successful Operation Epic Fury, President Trump and his negotiating team have brokered an excellent, performance-based MOU that advances the interests of the United States by ending the fighting, reopening the Strait of Hormuz to significantly lower energy prices, and forcing Iran to commit to abandon its nuclear ambitions,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital.
“President Trump has a strong relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Israel has always been a great ally to the United States. There has been no greater friend to Israel and a fighter for peace than President Trump… Americans and our allies around the world are already safer for the United States and Israel’s bold actions to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon,” a White House official added in a comment to Fox News Digital.
The Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of The Congress of Christian Leaders, told Fox News Digital that, in 2016, opposition to President Obama’s catastrophic Iran deal was one of the top three reasons evangelicals rallied to Donald Trump, helping forge one of the most consequential, enduring and powerful political coalitions in American history — a coalition that stands with him still and knows its power.
“Evangelicals know, and President Trump knows, that words on paper don’t change terrorists. Accountability does. Action does. This president has been willing to confront the Iranian regime in ways no predecessor would, and the regime has never been weaker,” Moore said.
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“The nuclear threat, at least for now, is gone. What brought Iran to this table was not a memorandum — it was precise and unrelenting military action that shattered their nuclear ambitions and broke their conventional forces,” he continued.
“We also know, as the president knows, that the regime will say and do anything to deceive everyone around him — because they understand they cannot deceive the president himself. Evangelicals trust President Trump entirely. That does not mean that we trust many of those now involved in the negotiation,” he added.
The risk the president must manage, he said, is that Tehran turns this into a stalling game — as it tried and failed to do with his own team at least twice and did successfully with Presidents Biden and Obama.
“In the end, because of the president, America will win this too — negotiation or not. But it is clear where our community stands. The regime only understands one language: strength. American strength,” he said.
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Other leaders expressed concerns over recent comments on Israel from the administration. Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, told Fox News Digital that evangelical Christians were largely responsible for the election of the current administration and said the agreement with Iran is extremely worrying.
“One of our core issues is the Biblical requirement to stand with Israel and G-d’s chosen people as described in the Books of Genesis and Obadiah. As the Bible teaches, those who stand with Israel will be blessed, and those who curse her will be cursed,” she said.
“There is a strong feeling that Israel is being betrayed and thrown under the bus in favor of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We are particularly concerned about recent harsh and false statements made by Vice President Vance, which could be perceived as cursing Israel,” she added.
The office of the vice president declined to comment when approached by Fox News Digital.
Vance has supported Israel but has also said he is willing to criticize the country when he believes its actions warrant it. He condemned antisemitism in February, telling the Daily Mail, “I think Jew hatred is disgusting.”
“You shouldn’t hate people because they’re White. You shouldn’t hate people because they’re Jewish. You shouldn’t hate people because they’re Black,” he said.
But Vance has also made clear that support for Israel does not mean automatic agreement with Netanyahu’s government.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu, look, he governs a country that has obviously been a very close partner of the United States. But, even when we’ve been close partners, sometimes we have interests that are perfectly aligned, and sometimes we have interests that are misaligned,” Vance said in an interview on “CBS Sunday Morning” June 10.
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The Trump administration publicly released details of the memorandum outlining plans for immediate waivers on Iranian oil exports, a framework for at least $300 billion in reconstruction and economic development assistance if a final agreement is reached, and a 60-day negotiating period aimed at securing a comprehensive deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, told Fox News Digital that, in its current form, the MOU appears ill-advised at best, as the military gains achieved by Washington and Jerusalem have yet to be fully realized.
“I have yet to hear from anyone who was not surprised by such an about-face in signing the MOU. Who would not be concerned with the U.S. effectively agreeing to forever negotiations with a highly militarized radical Islamist regime, flush with cash, in pursuit of nuclear weapons,” Hagee said.
Most evangelical Christians, he added, see what everyone else sees: The U.S. negotiating team appears to have fumbled the ball on the one-yard line. Nevertheless, the U.S.-Israel alliance remains a cornerstone of both countries’ security and a key pillar of global stability.
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“From a religious perspective, we have a divine mandate to stand with Israel. From a national security perspective, we have no stronger or wiser ally anywhere in the world. And from the Christian pilgrim’s perspective, our holy sites in the Holy Land have never been more open and yet more secure,” Hagee said.
“The most ‘America-first’ thing one can do is stand with our only true ally in the region,” he continued.
“The Islamic Republic declared war on the West the day it was founded nearly half a century ago. That has not changed. Democracies rarely get to decide who their enemies are. The only conclusion to this conflict is regime change through domestic revolution in Iran,” Hagee added.
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After the 60-day timeframe, Evans predicted Trump is likely to extend negotiations for another 90 days, carrying them through the end of the year and beyond the midterm elections. President Trump, Evans said, will then break the economic back of the regime, take Kharg Island and completely bankrupt the regime.
“I am not panicking because I know Donald Trump. I am the strongest supporter in the state of Israel of Donald Trump. I am the one that hosted the embassy gala, put up all the billboards and gave him an award. I am not panicking over this,” he added.
Evans said Christians do not believe the battle can be won by bombs alone, and that they view prayer as their most powerful weapon.
“We are hosting the largest prayer in history at the Kotel (Western Wall) with 5 to 10 million Christians on Oct. 7. I now have more than a dozen ambassadors involved and 23 additional ones I am meeting with who want to represent their country,” he said.
Dr. Jürgen Bühler, president of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), said his organization has witnessed up close for decades how the Iranian regime has progressively raised the sword of radical Islam over Israel, as well as over indigenous Christians throughout the Middle East.
“Given the current deal being worked out with Iranian leaders, we share the sense of most Israelis that the war against this intolerable Iranian threat has been stopped short of its needed objective,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Israel is a fellow Western democracy that deserves our full support in its fight to defend our shared freedoms and values, and many Christians in this region look to Israel as a light of hope for securing their own freedoms and futures,” he added.
Ultimately, Bühler said, the best and most just answer to the Iranian threat is genuine regime change in Tehran.
“We have not given up hope that the Iranian people themselves will be able to rise up and overcome their oppressive rulers and steer their nation away from this self-destructive obsession with destroying Israel,” he said.
Heather Johnston, founder and president of the U.S.-Israel Education Association, said in a statement to Fox News Digital in reaction to the MOU that the U.S.-Israel relationship has advanced American interests for decades and should be strengthened — not strained — by U.S. diplomacy with Iran.
“Iran’s long record of supporting terrorism and threatening Israel gives Americans ample reason to assess this agreement carefully and skeptically. Any diplomacy with Iran should be measured against whether it advances or undermines that progress,” she said.