The endless turmoil of the Middle East rolls on as Iran escalates tensions with threats of nuclear responses and Israel maintains conflicts on several fronts with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, and Hamas in Gaza – and allows/promotes 19 new West Bank settlements. Netanyahu is in Mar-a-Lago for Trump talks as the US administration is becoming increasingly frustrated with slow progress towards Phase 11 of the Gaza peacefire which involves disarming Hamas and putting in an international stabilization force.
Keeping this simple since there are too many charts: Israel’s relationship with the Iran 1 February 1979 chart is under pressure across 2026, more fractious and explosive in 2027. Much the same for the relationship with the Iran 7 October 1906 chart with high tension at the moment, disappointment in 2026 and aggravation come 2027. Both Iran charts hints at a confident push in the near future but loss of confidence and outright failure by 2027/28.
Hamas, 14 December 1987, looks to be running into the buffers in 2026/27 so will, in its present form, not be operational after that for a few years – though as ever a hundred-headed-hydra it may reconstitute in later years. Relations with Israel are on a further downward slide in 2026 and further ruptured in 2027.
Hezbollah, 16 February 1985, is staying bullishly confident through 2026 but running into a calamitous setbacks in 2027/28. Relations with Israel will worsen towards the end of the decade.
Other Middle Eastern countries hints at ructions and turbulence in 2027/28/29 either in their own charts or in relation to Israel – Qatar, Turkey, UAE. Saudi Arabia looks in rolling turmoil from 2028 for several years thereafter, within itself but also in relation to Israel.
The shifting sands won’t settle anytime soon. Especially for Israel. Tr Pluto will start to oppose the Israel 10th house Moon from February 2026 for two years for emotional and governmental challenges and that is followed by tr Pluto crossing the midpoints and then opposing the 10th house Pluto and Saturn in the early 2030s for years of hardship, perhaps war, certainly a monumental struggle. That worsens as tr Pluto continues onwards to hit the midpoints between Mars and Moon, Pluto and Saturn in the later 2030s to reach a calamitous peak in the early 2040s or rather a total dead halt with tr Pluto opposition the Israel Mars. Along the way the Solar Arc Sun will conjunct the Pluto and Saturn at the turn of this decade into the early 2030s and after.
Netanyahu, 21 October 1949 10.15 am Tel Aviv, Israel, won’t be around for ever. His is facing a nerve stretched 2026 as an election on which everything hinges for him looms for him. There are hints of a change of direction with Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Midheaven; and an explosive Progressed Mars square his Uranus which will be in place between 2026 and 2028. His relationship with Israel is edgy at the moment and high tension through 2026. His 2022 Term chart is sagging this year from low confidence.
His relationship with Trump is fairly chained together at an underlying level and will have peaks and troughs this year, nothing too definitive.
The Middle Eastern volcano will continue to spew lava for the foreseeable future.
I looked through the chart for 28 Dec 2025, 18:15 (Tehran) based on the earliest article posted I could find on the protest. The chart has a moon at 17 Aries, and fortune at 13 Aries, Jupiter at 21 Cancer. Iran 1971 chart has Eris at 14 Aries. Current Jupiter is 24 Cancer and Eris at 24 Aries.
The August 2027 total eclipse in Leo, conjoining Venus and opposing Pluto in Aquarius is going to pass over much of the Middle East. It’s going to be one of the longer eclipses of that year, with almost seven minutes of total darkness falling over the region. It’s no coincidence that both the Israel and Iran charts will be deeply affected. Israel especially with so many key planets in the early to middle degrees of both Leo and Taurus. The Saudi’s Mars in Aquarius will also be affected too. With the US also going through its Uranus return, and an extended Mars retrograde cycle that year in late Leo and early Virgo, that year really looks to be a voluble time. Historically Uranus in Gemini and Neptune in Aries augurs for a war cycle period.
The Iranian Revolution chart 1st April 1979 has Chiron at 7 Taurus which will be experiencing a return to its natal position in 2028 when it will be triggered by the Pluto/Saturn squares at 6 Aquarius/Taurus and 8 Squares Taurus in that year. The Iranian Revolution natal Saturn at 8 Virgo squares the US Uranus in Gemini and that synastry will be triggered by triggered by transiting Uranus and Mars in 2028. Iran is just one of the country charts that is picking up quite heavy aspects in that year.
A state of emergency has been called in Tehran.
The capital’s commercial districts and bazaars closed with workers taking to the streets to protest
Nothing unites a country like a war against a common enemy. Why probably explains why Iran has started making noises against Israel again after a period of relative silence.
There is a weird symbiotic relationship between the regime in Tehran and Netanyahu’s government in Israel. As so often happens in history the enemies need each other to justify their own reason for existence. Hilary Mantel has Thomas Cromwell muse on this fact in her novel Bring Up The Bodies when he states “How close we hug our enemies! They are our familiars, our other selves.” If they disappear for whatever reason it can create a sense of disorientation almost akin to bereavement.
Thank you for the quote, Hugh. Hilary Mantel did express it quite well.
And it is true. Hard-line regimes often need a hard-line opposition to set themselves against, all the better to show off the contrast between them. Ironically they end up showing how similar they are (the political horseshoe theory).
Israel will experience its first Uranus return in 2032. At the same time a transiting Saturn-Uranus conjunction will be conjunct US Mars. US Mars and Israel Uranus are linked permanently.
To build on that, a Uranus return (and a tr Pluto opposition natal Pluto) will be occurring in the coming few years for a whole host of international bodies and countries formed in the immediate aftermath of WWII. The UN itself, NATO, the World Bank and IMF, and also India, Pakistan, the PRC (all three being nuclear powers, in addition to Israel), in addition to the US having its Uranus return (which you have already mentioned in your post on the US).
Marjorie, can we have a post on the possible impact of a Uranus return (and a tr Pluto opposition natal Pluto) on these countries and organisations in the coming years?