Nostradamus’ chilling prophecy resurfaces as US-Iran war spirals

16th-century astrologer and physician Nostradamus has re-entered the zeitgeist again after the US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on Saturday, February 28, with many believing that the Frenchman predicted this series of events almost 500 years ago.

The US and Israel claimed that the missile strikes were pre-emptive as they believed Iran to have nuclear capabilities, despite the country assuring that its nuclear programme was peaceful.

The conflict in the Middle East has entered its fifth day, after the strikes on Iran killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as several other Iranian officials. Iran responded to the attack by targeting US military assets in neighboring countries, including Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Jordan.  

Since the attacks began, many have looked towards Nostradamus’ predictions for an idea of what may come in the unfolding war. Michel de Nostredame, whose predictions and prophecies earned him widespread renown and a place at King Henry II’s court, published a book called Les Propheties in 1555, which contained 942 prophecies that many believe have accurately predicted several major world events.

A passage in Quatrain I:26 reads: “The great swarm of bees will arise…by night the ambush…” which people have interpreted to mean drone warfare in line with the US and Iran’s weapons capabilities.

Another line reads: “Seven months great war, people dead through evil / Rouen, Evreux, the King will not fail,” which many have interpreted it to mean that the US-Iranian war would last for seven months in total. However, Rouen and Evreux are places located in France, and have no known connection to the current conflict.

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A third prediction from Nostradamus says: “When Mars rules his path among the stars, human blood will sprinkle the sanctuary. Three fires rise from the eastern sides, while the West loses its light in silence.”

Mars is the Roman god of war, and people believe the prophecy may suggest that the conflict could continue to rage on. Nostradamus’ predictions are often incredibly vague and open to interpretation, having been written in a mixture of French, Latin, Greek, Italian and the local language.

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The Renaissance seer was said to have predicted the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, which effectively ended World War 2, with his prophecy reading: “Within two cities, there will be scourges the like of which was never seen”

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People have also pointed to his prophecy in Quatrain I.87 as proof that he predicted the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. “Earth-shaking flames from the world’s center roar/And make the earth around a ‘New City’ quiver.”

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Social media users have shared their own interpretations of Nostradamus’ predictions in the wake of the bombing of Iran, with one X user writing: “According to 400-year-old Nostradamus prophecies, we may have just opened the Pandora’s Box of Worldly Proportions,” while another added: “Nostradamus said this would happen.”

“Nostradamus ‘prophecies’ have been reinterpreted throughout the ages and will continue to be,” said another on Facebook, while a fourth chimed in, “A lot of things he wrote about that would happen [have] happened, so I believe what he had to say.”