It's Wednesday, June 25, 2025.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

Understandably, international events have really set the agenda for much of our conversation in recent days.

That's going to continue because even as

there is something like a ceasefire in effect, and for that we are thankful between Israel and Iran,

and even as Israel claims that it has been largely successful in its efforts to make certain

that Iran did not reach a workable nuclear weapon stage, It is also true that the United States joined in that

effort trying to eliminate that capacity on the part of Iran to develop a workable nuclear weapon.

There are debates right now as to the success of those efforts. Of course, Iran struck back against

Israel. And then in a largely symbolic act, Iran struck back against the United States.

But as we saw, it gave warning so the United States can make sure there were no American personnel in the area.

And so there appears to be some kind of stability, probably a transient temporary stability.

But the big question is, of course, on the other side of this,

was Iran actually stopped? Was that nuclear capacity eliminated? Was it set back? Is it just a

matter of time? Will this incentivize Iran to move even more aggressively towards the development

of a nuclear weapon? All these are huge questions, and it's humbling for

us to recognize a lot of this won't be known until the passage of some time. But it is helpful to know

that there is a realism. There's an awareness on the part, not only of Israeli leaders, but also of

American leaders, and honestly, with the support, I think sometimes in shame, the very

quiet support of particularly European allies, the reality is that the score is now pretty much

known. Iran has been exposed for what it is. It is an extremist Islamic theocracy, which has

been a malevolent force in human history

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