All eyes in the world today are on Iran, the Middle East, and that slender Strait of Hormuz. The world is holding its collective breath, wondering when the oil prices at the pump will begin to fall, and if Iran is willing to give in or stubbornly continue its pursuit of the nuclear finish line.

Iran’s dogged refusal to surrender, even in the face of the threat of catastrophic destruction, is evidence that it values its radical theology above everything else.

What we can see on the surface today in Iran is bad enough, but behind the physical war, the Bible tells us that there is a spiritual war raging in the Middle East, with Iran at the center of the enemy’s strategy to oppose Israel and create chaos in the region.

Iran is Satan’s sinister agent to try to destroy God’s covenant people and drive them from their land.

The book of Daniel tells us about demonic spiritual warfare 2,500 years ago, involving a high-ranking demon called the Prince of “Persia”—the ancient name for modern-day Iran. This dark, demonic overlord was in charge of controlling and influencing Persia and its leaders in Daniel’s day, holding sway over this consequential region.

Daniel’s ancient prophecy helps us gain insight into the invisible spiritual war that’s still raging today in modern Iran. After all, if there was a demonic Prince of Persia in 530 BC, we could be sure that the same territorial demon is behind what’s happening there today. This demonic force in Iran is stimulating and stirring their strategy and stubbornness, inspiring their ideology, aggravating their antisemitism, and activating their anger.

According to the Bible, Satan is a fallen angel, and he has a horde of other fallen angels who followed him. Satan’s demon armada is highly structured, like a well-organized army. Ephesians 6:12 pulls back the veil, allowing us to peer into this unseen world, into this invisible army of evil spiritual forces: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Each of these names—the rulers, the powers, the world forces of darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places—are different ranks of demons. This describes a vast, organized satanic hierarchy. It’s what we might call the “global satanic network” or “spiritual mafia.”

One of the passages that gives us a clear window into this invisible world is Daniel chapter 10, describing a scene of cosmic warfare between good and fallen angels. In this gripping account, a good angel comes to comfort Daniel and conveys a behind-the-scenes look at why his prayer was delayed.

The chapter details: “Then he said to me, Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia… Then he said, Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince” (Daniel 10:12-13, 20).

In verse 20, another demon called the “prince of Greece” is mentioned, and the battle is so strenuous that Michael, the archangel, has to come help this other good angel in this conflict. The princes of Persia and Greece are demonic princes established over respective nations, influencing governments to oppose and hinder the nation of Israel. Persia was the nation ruling Israel at the time Daniel wrote his book, and Greece would be the next nation in line to dominate Israel.

Whether we realize it or not, the entire globe is organized under spiritual principalities corresponding to earthly governments.

It’s important to remember another lesson Daniel 10 teaches: God hears our prayers immediately. The moment Daniel prayed, it was heard by God. Demons can’t keep our prayers from getting to heaven, but they can hinder the answer coming back to the earth through unseen spiritual warfare. Daniel’s answer was delayed for three weeks by demonic warfare led by the Prince of Persia.

The Prince of Persia has not gone away. Forces of good and evil are all around us behind the flimsy facade of this world, enabling, empowering, and energizing everything that’s happening today in Iran.

The Prince of Persia has been working there for the last 2,500 years, but in the last 47 years, he has experienced his greatest success. The people of Iran are imprisoned in the equivalent of a national concentration camp, under the oppressive iron fist of a radical ideology. Joel Rosenberg aptly referred to this Mullah regime in Iran as an “apocalyptic, genocidal death cult.”

This demonic Persian prince is energizing the erroneous eschatology that drives their avowed anti-Semitism and “Mahdi” theology, which thrives on chaos and conflict and drives them to hate the United States and Israel. They seek terror and confusion to hotwire their version of the apocalypse. It’s even turning them against former allies as they shoot missiles into neighboring nations!

Dr. Hormoz Shariat, known as the Billy Graham of Iran, not long ago said something fascinating. He referred to the Prince of Persia as a spirit of delay. And what do we see from Iran today? Tehran has refined a strategy built on violence, delay, and deception. Constant negotiations, never-ending talks, and ceasefires. The Prince of Persia is still a spirit of delay, but it’s also a spirit of destruction and hatred.

I also believe that this Prince of Persia is drawing Iran into an alliance with Russia and Turkey, as described in the prophetic battle of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39).

The real battle we see today is not what we see with our eyes. There is an invisible battle raging behind the thin facade of this world. Just as in Daniel 10, God and His angelic hosts will win in the end. God’s sovereign plans will prevail as they always do. His will can never be thwarted. No delay can keep Him from bringing His will to pass. That’s true in the Middle East, and it’s true every day in your life and in mine.

Mark Hitchcock is an author, an associate professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, the Senior Pastor of Faith Bible Church in Oklahoma, the hosts the weekly program “Marking The End Times,” and a Contributor to Harbinger’s Daily.