My Predictions for 2026

Who said there is never news over New Year’s?

President Trump loves to surprise the pundits. Remember the killing of Qassem Suleymani on Jan. 3, 2020?

I’m not saying we have something quite as dramatic this year (and you can read about my contribution to the Suleymani killing in my latest book, The Iran House. But we saw a paradigm shift on multiple fronts over the past week, shifts that will be playing themselves out for the rest of this year.

First, there was the Trump-Netanyahu meeting at Mar-a-lago on Dec. 29. Remember how the pundits were warning that Trump was going to take Bibi to the woodshed because he was “dragging his feet” on Gaza? Well, that didn’t happen. Far from it.

Instead, you had a warm meeting, not just between two allies but between two friends. Trump told the press that in just the first five minutes they had resolved three issues on their agenda.

And in a very rare move, he kept the Israeli first couple over for the New Year’s celebrations. Weren’t those photos of the two couples at Mar-a-lago magnificent?

So, the US and Israel will be moving in lockstep in the coming months. I predict as a result that Hamas will indeed be disarmed, perhaps with bombs and bullets and drones, and that the Gaza peace plan will go forward — slowly, in fits and starts, but with strong support from the Big Arab bankers in the Gulf.

Next, we had a reality check in the Russia-Ukraine war. Again, remember Trump declaring as he greeted Volodomyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-lago that he was “very angry” after hearing from Putin by phone that the Ukrainians had attempted to bomb his weekend residence north of Moscow?

Well, it turns out that either didn’t happen or it was a false flag operation.

This president does not like to be lied to — and Putin has a track record of lying and of launching false flag operations to achieve his goals. (After all, that was how he originally came to power in 1999, through a KGB false flag operation that blew up an apartment complex south of Moscow and killed more than 200 Russians, while blaming it on Chechen terrorists).

So I predict that President Trump will dramatically scale up the pressure on Putin to come to the negotiating table with real concessions, not just his repeated demands. And that could lead to an end to the Russia-Ukraine war later in the year, either through a ceasefire of exhaustion or an actual negotiated settlement.

Third, I do not believe we are going to drown in a sea of debt, as some economists have been predicting. That might happen in Europe, but not in the US. The third quarter GDP numbers, with 4% growth, show the path ahead. As Trump has always said, we can grow our way out of debt. And with a new fed chair and lower interest rates later this year, that is exactly what will happen.

Fourth, despite all the Chinese saber-rattling, and their latest military exercises demonstrating their ability to encircle Taiwan, I don’t think China will invade Taiwan this year, or next, or at any time during the Trump presidency.

The Chinese Communists could get away with bluff, bluster and intimidation with Joe Biden, but not with this president. I predict President Trump will be true to his doctrine and make a deal, not war, with Communist China.

My biggest prediction I leave for last. 2026 could be the year when finally — finally! — we see the end of the Islamo-fascist regime in Iran.

The popular uprising that began on December 29 out of economic exhaustion and the collapse of the Iranian currency, quickly morphed into anti-regime protests all across the country. The crowds are openly chanting “Death to the Dictator” and “Long Live the Shah,” an invitation to Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to seize the reins of the protest movement.

We even saw crowds attack cars with mullahs in the streets of Tehran, the ultimate nightmare of the ruling clerics. The people’s hatred of this regime runs deep.

President Trump added his weight to the protestors with a post on Truth Social at 3:30 AM on January 2 that if the regime turns the guns on peaceful protestors, as it has done in the past, the US is “locked and loaded” and ready to punish them.

What exactly that means and how it plays out no one except the president knows at this point. But if the US were actually to conduct military strikes against the Revolutionary Guards or to disable their command and control capabilities, that would be a game-changer.

A world without the terrorist regime in Tehran? Yes, Fatima, such a thing is possible. And a more peaceful world it would be for everyone, not just in the Middle East.

I discuss all of these issues on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend. As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday in the Jacksonville, Florida area on 104.9 FM or 550 AM or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app.

All blessings to you and your family for a healthy,  prosperous and peaceful 2026.

Yours in freedom.

©2026 Kenneth R. Timmerman. All rights reserved.

Website: kentimmerman.com

Ken Timmerman’s 14th book of non-fiction, THE IRAN HOUSE: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. 

Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here.