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Anglican, Episcopal leaders respond to US-Israel attacks on Iran

March 02, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] Anglican and Episcopal leaders communionwide, including the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, and Archbishop Hosam Naoum, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and primate of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, have released statements calling for prayers in response to the United States and Israel on Feb. 28 launching a series of joint attacks on Iran, which led to the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Following the attacks, sirens blared across the Holy Land “warning of incoming missiles from Iran,” according to Naoum, whose province includes the Diocese of Iran.  “Suddenly, our people from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf find themselves once again huddled in shelters, fearing for their lives as the shadow of a total regional war looms over us,” Naoum said in a Feb. 28 letter. “I call upon the global church to join us in urgent, unceasing prayer. We implore God to protect the innocent – the mothers, the children and the elderly – who are caught in the crossfire of ‘Operation Epic Fury’ and the subsequent ‘crushing responses.’” In a Feb. 28 letter to The Episcopal Church, Rowe asked Episcopalians to pray for members of the Diocese of Iran, which has four churches, and for all Iranians. “In recent weeks, we have mourned as the regime in Iran has killed peaceful protesters, and watched with alarm at both its increasing repression of the Iranian people and the escalating response of the U.S. government,” Rowe said. “As Christians who follow a Prince of Peace, we mourn that … [these] attacks will surely mean further hardship for the most vulnerable Iranians and, as retaliation inevitably follows, suffering that will spread across the entire region.” As of March 2, the U.S. and Israeli attacks, and Iran’s retaliatory attacks throughout the Middle East, have led to multiple casualties, including four U.S. service members, nine Israelis and at least 555 Iranians, according to government reports. At least 153 of the Iranian fatalities came from a reported strike at a girls’ elementary school in Minab, according to Iranian state media. The attacks also occurred two months after protests erupted in Iran – the largest reported uprising since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which replaced Iran’s monarchy with a theocracy – over the country’s worsening economic crisis. An estimated 3,000 to over 30,00o protesters have reportedly been killed by the government’s security forces, according to multiple conflicting reports. President Donald Trump told NBC News in a March 1 interview that he decided to attack Iran after negotiations to stop Iran from enriching uranium to build a nuclear bomb for the next decade failed last week. The strikes, part of “Operation Epic Fury,” were launched without prior congressional approval, though Congress was previously scheduled this week to vote on bipartisan war powers resolutions that would limit Trump’s use of military operations in Iran. “Today is the first day of a new epoch for our country. Because of our government’s lawlessness, liberty and justice for all are on the line as never before. Those of us who believe in the saving power of the risen Christ will have a lot of work to do,” Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor said in a Feb. 28 post on his personal Facebook page. Los Angeles, California, is often nicknamed “Tehrangeles” because it is home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora outside of Iran, with more than 500,000 residents of Iranian descent. Members of the Diocese of Connecticut, including Bishop Jeffrey Mello, were on a Holy Land pilgrimage when the attacks started and took shelter at St. George’s College in Jerusalem. Everyone is now safe in Amman, Jordan, according to a March 2 Facebook post on Mello’s personal Facebook page, and we “are still hopeful we will return to the U.S. in the next day or so.” “Our hearts, though, remain with our siblings in Christ back in Jerusalem, and all those who are living under the constant threat of strikes and falling debris,” Mello said, thanking the pilgrims’ guides for helping them leave Jerusalem. “We are here in Jordan only because of their care and concern. As we got in our van to enter the safety of Jordan, they had to get in theirs to return to the danger and uncertainty of life in their homeland,” Mello said. Rowe and other bishops, including San Diego Bishop Susan Brown Snook, also called for prayers for the pilgrims’ safe return to the United States. “I ask all our congregations and people to pray for a quick end to this conflict and for protection of all innocent people who are in harm’s way,” Snook said in a Feb. 28 statement. Missile and drone attacks also struck all 10 countries in the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. The diocese’s bishop, the Rt. Rev. Sean Semple said in a March 1 Facebook post that he’s been communicating with Anglicans throughout the diocese, which is a part of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Churches have temporarily switched to online services and prayer groups. “We find ourselves suddenly living through the danger, unpredictability and terror of war. Amidst the fear and pain of this time, our faith inspires us to make real the love and compassion of Christ, in search of peace and understanding,” Semple said. “No one knows how long this conflict will last or how it might continue to affect our lives. We pray for peace – for a swift end to conflict; for the leaders of the world to be inspired by the just and peaceful rule of the Kingdom of God; and for all who strive for de-escalation and negotiation in our region.” In a Feb. 28 statement, Virginia bishops E. Mark Stevenson, Gayle E. Harris and Mark A. Bourlakas asked Episcopalians in the Richmond-based diocese to “set aside partisanship in this moment and remember that the majority of […]