President Donald Trump may have been sent by God to help save the Jewish people from Iran, the American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested during a trip to Israel.
Mr Pompeo, who is paying a visit to the Middle East, happened to be in Israel on Thursday during the festival of Purim.
Interviewed by the Christian Broadcasting Network, an American channel, he was asked whether he believed Mr Trump “right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace”.
Mr Pompeo replied, “As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible.”
The Purim story is set in ancient Persia.
Mr Trump dropped a diplomatic bombshell on Thursday by tweeting it was time for the US to recognise Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, which was captured during the Six Day-War in 1967.
The area had “critical strategic and security importance”, the president said in an intervention that was seen as an acknowledgement of increasing Israeli concern over Iranian efforts to consolidate its presence in Syria.
Last year, Mr Trump pulled the USA out of the international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, believing it too weak, and imposed fresh sanctions on the country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to visit the White House on a trip to the USA next to address the annual conference of the pro-Israel lobby group Aipac, welcomed Mr Trump’s Golan statement as a “Purim miracle”.
