What in the world is happening over in Iran?  All of a sudden we are hearing of a lot of "mysterious explosions" at nuclear facilities and at important missile sites.  Also, in recent months quite a few Iranian nuclear scientists have been mysteriously killed.  Is someone conducting a covert campaign to take out Iran's nuclear program?  Without a doubt, open warfare with Iran would have very serious consequences and could even end up sparking World War III.  If war can be avoided, that would seem to be preferable.  So is someone secretly bombing key installations in Iran in attempt to delay or even derail their nuclear program?  Unfortunately we will not get answers to those questions any time soon, but it does appear that something really strange is going on.

One of the most recent incidents happened near the Iranian city of Malard.  A photo has been released that clearly shows that a key Iranian missile base near Malard has been essentially destroyed.

This was detailed in a recent article in the Washington Post....

Two weeks after a mysterious explosion at an Iranian missile base, a Washington-based research group has released a satellite image showing extensive damage to the site.

The image of the compound, near the city of Malard, doesn’t provide any clues as to what caused the Nov. 12 explosion, which Iranian authorities described as an “accident” involving the transport of ammunition. But it does make clear that the facility has been effectively destroyed.

Could an "ammunition accident" really cause the kind of extensive damage shown in the photo?

That seems very, very far-fetched.

Just recently, another strange explosion happened somewhere around the Iranian city of Isfahan.  It turns out that a key Iranian nuclear facility is located in Isfahan.  The following description of this incident comes from an article in Haaretz....

An explosion rocked the western Iranian city of Isfahan on Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, adding that the blast was heard in several parts of the city.

According to reports, frightened residents called the fire department after the blast, forcing the city authorities to admit there had been an explosion. Residents reported that their windows shook from the explosion's force.

Authorities in Iran are blaming that blast on a "military drill".

You never know, the authorities in Iran might be telling the truth.

But lately there has been a pattern developing in Iran that has become very hard to deny.

Over the past few years, quite a few Iranian nuclear scientists have been mysteriously killed.

The following comes from an ABC News article entitled "Who Is Killing Iran's Nuclear Scientists?"....

Regardless of who is killing Iran's nuclear scientists -- the Israelis, the Americans or the Iranians themselves -- there's no question that researchers and officials linked to Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program keep turning up dead.

Since 2007, four different scientists allegedly associated with the nation's nuclear weapons program have died via bomb, gunshot or poisoning, while a fifth barely survived a car bombing.

The most recent victim, 35-year-old Darioush Rezaeinejad, was shot in the neck outside his daughter's Tehran kindergarten on Saturday by two gunmen on a motorcycle. According to an unconfirmed report in an Israeli intelligence publication, Rezaeinejad was working on a nuclear detonator, and was seen daily at a nuclear lab in northern Tehran.

If you believe that all of the events detailed above are just "bizarre coincidences", then you are being quite naive.

Someone is taking aggressive action inside Iran, but it might not be enough to avert a war.

The truth is that tensions between Iran and western powers are rapidly escalating.  On Tuesday, Iranian students stormed two British Embassy compounds in Tehran.  The following description of this event comes from a Reuters article....

Iranian protesters stormed two British Embassy compounds in Tehran Tuesday, smashing windows, hurling petrol bombs and burning the British flag during a rally to protest against sanctions imposed by Britain, live Iranian television showed.

The attacks followed the rapid approval by Iran’s Guardian Council of a parliamentary bill compelling the government to expel the British ambassador in retaliation for the sanctions, and warnings from a lawmaker that angry Iranians could storm the British embassy as they did to the U.S. mission in 1979.

Does this remind you of anything?

The truth is that this is chillingly similar to what happened to the U.S. Embassy back in 1979.

A video news report about the storming of the British Embassy is posted below....

Needless to say, the British government is quite alarmed about all of this.  UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is promising that there will be "serious consequences" stemming from this incident.  The following is a short excerpt from a recent article in the Guardian....

Hundreds of protesters surged onto two compounds this afternoon, putting the safety of staff at risk and causing "extensive damage" to property, the foreign secretary said.

"Clearly there will be other, further, and serious consequences. I will make a statement updating parliament on this tomorrow [Wednesday]."

Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, but what seems very clear is that the region is closer to war than it has been in a long time.

On Sunday, Iranian Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi promised that Iran would launch 150,000 missiles at Israel if a military attack on Iran happens.

As tensions have risen over the past few years, Iran has armed itself to the teeth.

Any military conflict with Iran would not be pretty.

But peace will not last forever.  Israel simply will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear program and Iran is absolutely determined to proceed with developing one.

And as I have written about previously, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually believes that a war with Israel is necessary before the Mahdi will return.

We live in very unusual times.

As we get even deeper into the times that the Bible refers to as "the last days", it is inevitable that there will be more war in the Middle East.

In the years ahead, there will be some incredibly bloody conflicts and the loss of life will be staggering.

Let us pray for peace, and let us pray that as many people as possible can be exposed to the gospel while there is still time.

So exactly just who is NATO "helping" in Libya?  Are we actually making it possible for radical Islamic jihadists to take control of Libya?  Are we now providing air cover for some of the exact same terrorists that were shooting at our soldiers in Iraq?  You might not like the answers to those questions.  Nobody is claiming that Gadhafi is not a horrible dictator and tyrant.  However, is it really in our interest to have al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood replace him?  The Scriptures tell us in the book of Ezekiel that in the last days the nation of Libya will come against Israel.  Are we making this possible by injecting ourselves into the middle of this civil war?

The mainstream media has been pushing this war really hard, and it is really easy for most Americans to simply trust the judgment of the news channels, but there are some really hard questions that we need to ask about our involvement in Libya.

For example, what in the world is Libya going to look like after all this is over?

Is it going to take a hard turn towards radical Islam and end up being ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood and/or al-Qaeda?

According to The Telegraph, the leader of the Libyan rebels is even admitting that his "troops" include jihadists that were firing bullets at U.S. troops in Iraq....

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

What type of government do you think they are going to set up once this is over?

The American people need to start demanding some answers.

Why are we on the side of al-Qaeda in Libya but against them in Iraq and Afghanistan?

CBS News recently quoted former CIA officer Bruce Riedel as saying the following....

"There is no question that al Qaeda's Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition. It has always been Qaddafi's biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi. What is unclear is how much of the opposition is al Qaeda/Libyan Islamic Fighting Group - 2 percent or 80 percent."

Shouldn't we have learned more about who we are supporting before we jumped in?

Are we actually using our military to support the spread of radical Islam in north Africa?

According to Webster Tarpley, a study conducted at West Point found that Libya has one of the highest concentrations of jihadists on the planet....

The most striking finding which emerges from the West Point study is that the corridor which goes from Benghazi to Tobruk, passing through the city of Darnah (also transliterated as Derna) them represents one of the greatest concentrations of jihadi terrorists to be found anywhere in the world, and by some measures can be regarded as the leading source of suicide bombers anywhere on the planet. Darnah, with one terrorist fighter sent into Iraq to kill Americans for every 1,000 to 1,500 persons of population, emerges as suicide bomber heaven, easily surpassing the closest competitor, which was Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

The more one examines the situation in Libya, the better Gadhafi looks.  The truth is that these "rebels" are not fighting Gadhafi because they want a western-style democracy.  Rather, they are fighting him because they want to set up a radical Islamic jihadist state.

The truth is that NATO knows precisely who they are arming and who they are helping take power in Libya.  As Steve Watson recently noted, there are reports that there are 1000 (or more) al-Qaeda fighters among the rebels in Libya....

A former leader of an al Qaeda linked group in Libya claims that there are around 1000 fundamentalist Islamic fighters in the country that have joined the uprising against Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s forces, a number that jives with intelligence reports and independent estimates.

How in the world is America going to be better off with al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood in control of Libya?

None of this makes any sense.

We are told that we have to have our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq for years and years in order to "fight al-Qaeda" and then we are helping them take power in Libya?

What in the world is going on out there?

We are living in the last days and weird things are going to happen.

So what do all of you think about what is happening in Libya?  Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....

On Monday night, a "mystery missile" streaked across the sky just off the Southern California coast, and at this point the U.S. military still has no official explanation for it.  The "mystery missile" was caught on video by a local television station's helicopter camera, and the images are absolutely stunning.  The trail left behind by the missile was visible from the city of Los Angeles, and the helicopter crew that took the video estimated that the missile's location was approximately 35 miles out to sea north of Catalina Island.  So where in the world did this mystery missile off the Southern California coast come from?

At this point, nobody seems to know.  The Pentagon says that the U.S. military did not have any missile tests planned and that they do not know who fired the missile at this point.  Some are speculating that it could be the work of an amateur.  Others are claiming that it could just be an optical illusion.

Still others think that it might have been the work of a foreign nation.  For example, Robert Ellsworth, a former deputy secretary of defense and ambassador to NATO, is speculating that perhaps an Asian power is responsible....

"It could be a test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine to demonstrate, mainly to Asia, that we can do that."

A video news report about this mystery missile is posted below....

Eventually, the U.S. military will either tell us what this mystery missile over Southern California really was or they will make up a really good cover story.

In any event, all of this is rather unsettling.

The truth is that many believe that this is exactly the type of attack that is going to take down the United States in the last days.

Many, many, many people have had visions of Russian subs just off the coast striking U.S. cities with nuclear missiles in the future.

So is such a thing possible?

Yes, very much so.

Once Russia and/or China decide that war with the United States is inevitable, they will want to get in as devastating a first strike as possible before we can respond.

The very best way to do this is with submarines.

The reality is that Russia's next generation subs are so incredibly quiet that they can creep all the way up to U.S. coastlines without even being detected most of the time.

For example, the U.S. military was very surprised a while back to learn that two Russian nuclear submarines had been patrolling off the east coast of the United States.  According to news reports, two Akula class nuclear-powered submarines were lurking in international waters just 200 miles of the U.S. coast.

So did a sub from a foreign power test how close it could get to the coast of California and fire off a missile without being detected?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

In any event, this is something that a lot of people are convinced is coming in the future.

If Russian subs did sneak up to 30 miles off the California coast, they could literally be raining down nuclear missiles on U.S. cities in as little as five minutes.

That would not leave us a whole lot of time to respond at all.

So what do you think about this "mystery missile" off the California coast?

Do you think that this type of thing is a real danger?

Do you think that someday submarines could pop up off the coast and rain down nukes on all of us?

Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion....

The Scriptures tell us that in the last days there will be wars and rumors of wars, and that is certainly true of the times that we are living in today.  Iran's nuclear program continues to advance, and world leaders around the globe are becoming increasingly alarmed.  In fact, even Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is now warning that Iran is close to having the potential to build a nuclear weapon.  For years, Russia has been one of Iran's most vigorous defenders on the world scene, but now even the Russian government is expressing reservations about what is going on in that country.  That should set off alarm bells for all of us.

Not only that, but now even Arab nations are expressing concern about Iran's nuclear program.  For example, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States recently said that it would be extremely difficult for his nation to coexist with a nuclear Iran and that it would support any actions the U.S. took to prevent such a possibility.

The UAE would support a U.S. military strike on Iran?

Yes, you read that correctly.

It is even being reported that both Egypt and Jordan are growing increasingly concerned with Iran's nuclear program.

It looks like Iran is running out of friends.

But Iran continues to recklessly push forward with their nuclear ambitions.

Just this past week, Iran announced that the Bushehr nuclear power plant would be ready for operation in just two months.

But does being able to produce nuclear power mean that Iran is also planning to develop nuclear weapons?

The truth is that we all know the answer to that question.

In fact, a former of Iran's Revolutionary Guard who relayed its secret operations to the CIA for 10 years says that Iran will commit the "most horrendous suicide bombing in human history" if it is not stopped from developing nuclear weapons.

So who is going to stop them?

The United States?

That seems quite likely as long as Barack Obama is running things.

Israel?

Perhaps.

For now, Israel has been trying to talk peace with the Palestinians, but they are also preparing for war.

The world has certainly been trying to push Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed interest in sitting down with them.  Netanyahu says that he believes that direct talks with the Palestinians will begin very soon and he recently predicted that they will be "very, very tough".

But on another occasion recently, Netanyahu said that he does not envision actually reaching a negotiated Middle East peace settlement within the next two years, despite his Palestinian counterpart's declared intentions to set up infrastructure for a state by 2011.

So it looks like Netanyahu expects peace talks with the Palestinians to begin soon, but he is not anticipating that they will bear any fruit in the foreseeable future.

Not that any of the other "peace agreements" with the Palestinians have ever worked out.

In the end, war always ends up breaking out again.

And war tensions are certainly on the rise in the region once again.

Debka is reporting that 20,000 Hezbollah troops have advanced and are dug into 160 new positions in South Lebanon.  Israel is believed to be "preparing something" for Lebanon and Hezbollah is on high alert to prevent it, unnamed sources in the group were quoted by London-based newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat as saying recently.

In addition, according to the Palestinian Authority daily newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently told Arab leaders that the PA is ready to wage war on Israel if the rest of the Arab world does.  The following is what Abbas reportedly told them....

"If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor.  But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it."

To the world media, Abbas talks about peace, peace, peace, but to his fellow Arab leaders he says that the Palestinian Authority is ready for war with Israel.

What a hypocrite.

The truth is that even if a "peace agreement" is reached, and even if a "Palestinian state" is created, more wars in the Middle East are inevitable.

These are the last days, and wars are going to continue until the end.  The only time that there is going to be true peace is after the King of Kings, the Messiah, returns to this earth and sets up His kingdom in Jerusalem.

Israel is making it very clear that the next war with Hezbollah will also be a war against Syria.  For years it has been an open secret that Syria was funneling arms and sophistical weapons systems to Hezbollah in Lebanon, but now Israel is on the record as saying that they consider Hezbollah to be a division of the Syrian army.  So what does this mean?  It means that war between Israel and Syria is now closer than it has been in decades.  Just recently, Israel delivered a secret warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad that it will respond to missile attacks from Hezbollah by launching immediate retaliation against Syria itself.

No longer will Syria be able to use Hezbollah to fight proxy wars against Israel.  If a repeat of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah happens, this time Israel says that it will directly strike Damascus. 

In fact, a major U.K. newspaper recently published the following "off-the-record" comment from an Israeli minister....

"We’ll return Syria to the Stone Age by crippling its power stations, ports, fuel storage and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dare to launch ballistic missiles against us."

What is raising tensions even further in the region are reports that Syria has been arming Hezbollah to the teeth in preparation for the coming war.

Just consider the following description by Debka of the kinds of advanced weaponry that Syria has been supplying to the terrorist organization....

"Surface-to-surface missiles able to reach as far as the Dimona reactor in southern Israel: They include Fajr-5, which has a range of 33 km, and the M-600, developed by Syria from the Fateh-110, whose range is 250 km. Both are precise, propelled by solid fuel and carry 500-kilo warheads of conventional explosives, as well as being able to deliver chemical, biological and radioactive materials.  This dangerous new arsenal which tops up the 40,000 rockets Hizballah was allowed to pile up since the 2006 Lebanon war."

The reality is that Syria and Hezbollah between them now have the capability of striking every single inch of Israeli territory with missiles.

No target is out of range anymore.

With all sides on edge in the region, even King Abdullah of Jordan is warning that the next war in the Middle East could break out as soon as this summer.

Meanwhile, there are increasing calls from world leaders for Israel to join the NPT and quit producing nuclear weapons.  In fact, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem is calling on all NPT member countries to sever their diplomatic relations with Israel unless it joins the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Of course Syria would love not to have to worry about Israel's nukes during the coming war, but that is not going to happen.

But even Barack Obama is pushing Israel on this issue.  Last week Barack Obama publicly declared that he is calling upon all the nations of the world to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including Israel.

But what Barack Obama should be really concerned about is trying to figure out what to do about Iran.

It is being reported that Robert Gates, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, warned President Barack Obama in a secret "wake-up call" memo that the White House has no effective policy for dealing with a nuclear Iran.

But at the same time, the Pentagon itself does not seem to have a sense of urgency when it comes to Iran's nuclear program.  Top U.S. military officials told Congress last week that it would take Iran at least a year to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.  Not only that, but Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said that that a U.S. strike against Iran would go "a long way" to delaying its nuclear program but that he considered doing so his "last option" right now.

Meanwhile, top Iranian officials are running around making declarations about how advanced Iran's nuclear program is.

Needless to say, Israel is not going to let Iran go down this path indefinitely.

But even before things with Iran come to a crisis point, war could break out between Israel and Syria.

Is the time soon coming when "Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins" (Isaiah 17:1)?

We will just have to wait and see.  Certainly all sides are preparing for a devastating regional war.  So let us pray for the peace of Israel and let us trust that God knows what He is doing.

More than ever, the word "nuclear" is on the lips of world leaders around the globe.  It seems like everyone is either "going nuclear" or is talking about nuclear weapons.  The truth is that the world has been extremely fortunate that nuclear weapons have not been used to destroy an entire city since the end of World War 2.  But with tensions escalating dangerously in the Middle East and around the world, how much longer will it be before nuclear weapons are used by someone to wipe out large numbers of people? 

In fact, for many terrorist organizations around the globe, the thought of going nuclear is the ultimate dream.  A handful of terrorists really can't do that much damage on their own, but one terrorist with a nuke can take out an entire major city in the blink of an eye.

Many jihadists speak openly of nuclear weapons as being the means by which they will take down the United States and Israel.  There are many jihadists who would set off a nuke in a major city today if they were able to.

And with nuclear weapons technology spreading to places such as North Korea, Iran and Syria, how much longer do you think it will be before a terrorist organization is able to get their hands on a nuclear weapon?

The truth is that nuclear weapons will almost certainly be used in the last days.  Entire cities will probably be destroyed.  Whether it is terrorists or governments who use them, the reality is that when they are used it will change the world forever. 

Leaders around the globe know how dangerous these weapons are.  Many of them understand that once Iran gets their hands on nukes it will be extremely hard to ever put the "nuclear genie" back in the bottle.  If radical Islamic terrorists are able to acquire nuclear weapons through Iran (or by any other source), all of our lives are going to change permanently.   

The threat of rogue nations and terrorist organizations going nuclear has made a lot of headlines just this past week.  Just check out some of them....

*Barack Obama said that the possibility of terrorists getting a nuclear device is the "single biggest threat" to U.S. security as he opened the international nuclear summit that included 46 world leaders from around the globe.

*Hillary Clinton said that she fears al-Qaeda is gathering material for nuclear weapons.

*According to a top Iranian nuclear official, Iran will join the "nuclear club" within a month.

*Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a new generation of domestically made nucelar centrifuges in a ceremony in Tehran marking national nuclear day.

*It is being reported by international news sources that Iran's bomb-making plutonium facilities are close to completion.

*French President Nicolas Sarkozy is warning global leaders that if the world doesn't act to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear arms, it could be responsible for a war between Israel and the Islamic republic.

*An Iranian who once worked as a spy for the CIA is saying that the only way to avoid a nuclear war with Iran is to attack them now.

*Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning Israel against a military strike on Iran, saying that it might lead to a global nuclear war.

*The Turkish Prime Minister is urging other world leaders to start criticizing the Israeli nuclear arsenal.

*Hillary Clinton claims that North Korea now has as many as six nuclear weapons.

We live in very dangerous times.  We all take the peace and safety we are enjoying right now for granted.  But a time is coming when that will fundamentally change.

Nations that absolutely hate the United States and Israel are arming to the teeth and are developing nuclear weapons.  Just one suitcase nuke could decimate an entire city.  We often forget about how blessed and how protected we have been, but someday that could all change in the blink of an eye.

Let us pray for peace and hope that somehow nuclear weapons can be kept out of the hands of radicals and lunatics.

When it comes to geopolitics, it is much more important to watch what the various players do rather than listen to what they say.  This is especially true in the Middle East.  While many leaders in the region are saying all the "right" things, the reality is that there are indications that all sides are preparing for war.  In fact, there are signs that war in the Middle East may be imminent.  The reality is that Israel is simply not going to let Iran continue with their nuclear program forever, and Iran is showing no indications that they plan to discontinue it.  So a showdown is inevitable at this point.  Tensions are rising and preparations are ramping up. 

The following are ten recent signs that war in the Middle East is getting closer than ever.... 

#1) On Tuesday, Israel began distributing millions of protection kits against biochemical warfare.

#2) The Tel Aviv municipality has unveiled a massive new public bomb shelter built directly under the new Habima Theater.

#3) According to a senior PA negotiator and sources in the Israeli government, the U.S. has actually been conducting negotiations with Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.  Since when did the U.S. government become the representative of the Palestinians?  Things have gotten really weird since Barack Obama got in the White House.

#4) In recent weeks the Obama administration has stepped up its monitoring of Jewish construction projects in eastern Jerusalem.  In fact, if anyone picks up a hammer in east Jerusalem these days the Obama administration flies into a tizzy.

#5) The Obama administration is now rejecting all visa requests from all Israeli nuclear scientists who work on Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona and is now imposing severe restrictions on Israel with regard to the purchase of nuclear-related products.  Wait a second - isn't Israel supposed to be our friend?

#6) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a planned trip to Washington next week for Barack Obama's 47 country nuclear security conference.  So why did he cancel his trip?  Perhaps #5 was a big reason.

#7) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is claiming that Israel plans to start a war this upcoming Spring or Summer, and that this will be a chance for the surrounding nations to "finish" Israel.

#8) A senior cleric within Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard has reiterated warnings that Tehran would strike Tel Aviv immediately if Israel and its Western allies attacked Iran.

#9) Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says that "no trace of Israel will remain" if Iran is attacked.

#10) Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is promising that the Palestinian people will celebrate the Holy Fire vigil next year in the "true Palestinian capital" of Jerusalem.

If you listen to the major Islamic leaders in the region, it sounds like they are very much looking forward to war.  That may seem strange to those of us with a western mindset, but you have to realize that these Islamic leaders have had the "glory of jihad" pounded into their heads since they were knee-high to a grasshopper (as they say in the South).

The radical Muslims in the region are thirsting for a war with Israel, and Israel cannot allow Iran to continue developing a nuclear program indefinitely. 

Trouble is on the horizon.

The Obama administration is totally inept and seems to be becoming increasingly anti-Israel.

Now is the time to be praying for Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem.

In a recent article, we postulated that Iran actually wants a war with Israel in order to prepare the way for the Mahdi to return.  Well now it looks like Iran is doing more than ever to tempt Israel into starting a war.  In fact, even Haaretz is publishing articles about how Iran is "goading" Israel into striking its nuclear program.  So what is causing so many people to come to the conclusion that Iran wants Israel to start a war?  Well, Iran recently moved almost its entire stockpile of low-enriched nuclear fuel to above-ground plants.  This makes the stockpile much, much easier to strike.

Many analysts have been absolutely puzzled by this move.

They are amazed that Iran would make it far easier for Israel to strike their stockpiles of enriched uranium.

Haaretz described the recent events in Iran this way.... 

According to the New York Times, which quotes the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report, on Feb. 14 nuclear inspectors watched as Iran transferred about 4,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium from deep underground storage to the small plant Iran has declared it will use to re-enrich the fuel to 20 percent purity. It takes 80- to 90-percent enrichment to make a nuclear weapon.

This seems to be a fundamental shift in policy for Iran.  Just last September, Iran was caught constructing a major underground enrichment facility at a military base near the Iranian city of Qom.  At the time Iran explained that the risk of attack by the U.S. or Israel forced them to build underground facilities. 

So why the change?

Well, some analysts claim that Iran is "inviting" an attack because it would unite the Iranian people against a common foe.

But the truth goes much, much deeper than that.

Iran does not just want to unite their own populace.

Iran wants to unite the entire Islamic world for a war that they hope will wipe Israel off the map.

After all, it seems like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks of the ultimate destruction of the nation of Israel at almost every public appearance now.

He is obsessed with it.

But if Iran strikes Israel first, he knows that Iran will be regarded as the enemy.

However, if Israel hits Iran first, world opinion will dramatically swing in Iran's favor, and Iran could potentially unite all of the Islamic nations in the region for a war against Israel.

In fact, as we described in our last article, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes that such a cataclysm is necessary in order to prepare the way for the return of the Mahdi.

Considering the fact that Ahmadinejad believes that his life purpose is to usher in the return of the Mahdi, many believe that Ahmadinejad is actually looking forward to the coming war with Israel.

But he doesn't want to start the war.

He wants Israel to start it.

So what does Israel do?

Take the bait and start a cataclysmic war that could unite all of the Islamic nations in the Middle East against them?

Or continue to watch Iran get closer and closer to developing nuclear weapons which they would certainly end up passing along to terrorists and to other enemies of the Jewish state?

Israel is truly between a rock and a hard place - just where Ahmadinejad wants them.

"Today, we should define our economic, cultural and political policies based on the policy of Imam Mahdi's return."
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Does the government of Iran actually want war with Israel so that the Mahdi can return?  As insane as that sounds, the truth is that the vast majority of people in the United States and Europe simply do not understand how absolutely obsessed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others in the Iranian government are with their form of radical Islam and with the return of the Mahdi.  It surprises many to learn that Iran's official state websites are filled with information about the Mahdi.  In fact, Ahmadinejad actually believes that he was born to be "the great jihadist" that would prepare the way for the twelfth Imam.  But in order for the Mahdi to return, the belief is that there must first be a great cataclysmic event.  So is Iran's nuclear weapons program designed to facilitate this cataclysmic event and hasten the return of the Mahdi?

That seems to be the most rational explanation for Iran's current behavior.  The government of Iran knows that Israel and the United States will never let them develop nuclear weapons and will go to war if necessary to prevent Iran from getting them. 

But they seem bound and determined to get nuclear weapons anyway.

In fact, Iran just announced that it plans to start constructing two new uranium enrichment facilities next month in the heart of the Iranian mountains.

But doesn't the Iranian leadership fear a war with the United States and Israel?

Perhaps the Iranian government should, but they understand that if the United States and/or Israel strike first, they will be viewed as the aggressors by the rest of the globe.  World opinion would swing dramatically in favor of Iran.

But that is only part of the equation.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others among the Iranian leadership also believe that they are setting up the great cataclysm which will bring about the return of the Mahdi.  Many of them seem perfectly willing to die in order to fulfill this purpose.

During a speech in Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly stated that his primary purpose in life is to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance."

So just who is this "Mahdi" supposed to be?

According to Wikipedia, Shi'ite Muslims "believe that the Mahdi is the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Twelfth and last Imam, who was born in 868 AD and was hidden by God at the age of five."  It is believed that the Mahdi will one day return during a very cataclysmic time in human history and will establish the rule of Islam around the world in the last days.

So now, many of those in the Islamic world who believe in the Mahdi are looking for that cataclysmic event to occur.

For example, AwaitedMahdi.com states that the "Last Hour" will not come "unless the Muslims fight against the Jews".

Ariel Sharon understood these radical Islamic beliefs very well.  Sharon is quoted as saying the following about Iran's obsession with the Mahdi....

"How will they bring him? Through an apocalypse. He (the Mahdi) needs a war. He cannot come into this world without an Armageddon. He wants an Armageddon. The earlier we understand this the better. Ahmadinejad wants nuclear weapons for this!"

So was Sharon just exaggerating when he said this?

Not at all.

In fact, check out the following quote from Ahmadinejad about how he believes that the United States is actively trying to prevent the return of the Mahdi....

"They have devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule".

Most Americans and Europeans simply cannot conceive of a government that makes all major decisions based on an obsession with religion, but that is exactly what is going on in Iran.  The government of Iran believes that the Mahdi is really going to return and that they are the ones who are going to pave the way for it to happen.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to prepare for war.  Israel's air force has introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and could fly as far as the Persian Gulf.  In fact, each one of these "super drones" is reportedly as wide as a Boeing 737. 

Israel's government understands what is happening in Iran and they know that a showdown is on the horizon.

Iran continues to recklessly pursue a nuclear program as Israel continues to prepare to neutralize it.  It appears as though it is more likely than ever that war between Israel and Iran is inevitable.  Let us pray that war can be averted if possible, and if not, that God's will be done.

"We must prepare ourselves to rule the world and the only way to do that is to put forth views on the basis of the Expectation of the Return."
-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is at it again.  This time he is publicly claiming that Israel plans to start a war this upcoming Spring or Summer, and that this will be a chance for the surrounding nations to "finish" Israel.  And yet there is very little outrage concerning these remarks outside of Israel and the United States. 

It should be quite obvious to everyone by now that Ahmadinejad is not interested in peace.  In fact, he very much sounds like someone who is almost lusting for war.  He has made these same kind of remarks over and over, and it is very clear that he believes that there will be an inevitable clash between Iran and Israel.

Just consider the following quotes from Ahmadinejad's most recent remarks as they were reported in The Jerusalem Post....

"According to information we have they (Israel) are seeking to start a war next spring or summer, although their decision is not final yet."

"But the resistance and regional states will finish them if this fake regime does anything again."

"If the Zionist regime repeats its mistakes and initiate a military operation, then it must be resisted with full force to put an end to it once and for all."

Are those the words of a sane individual?

Of course not.

These newest remarks come several days after Ahmadinejad reportedly told Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel "must be resisted" and "finished off once and for all" if it launches a military operation anywhere in the Middle East.

Finished off once and for all?

Those are bone-chilling words.

The rest of the world doesn't seem to be getting the message, but the reality is that Ahmadinejad is very serious about wiping the state of Israel off the map.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is mulling over "tougher sanctions" and Hillary Clinton is warning that Iran is moving towards a "military dictatorship".

In response, Ahmadinejad issued his own warning to nations that would imposed tougher sanctions on his nation....

"We prefer that they move in the spirit of cooperation. It won't put us in trouble. They themselves will get into trouble."

And this psycho may soon have his hands on nukes?

The truth is that the United States and Israel simply cannot allow Ahmadinejad to threaten the world with nuclear weapons.

But a war with Iran would be incredibly destructive not only to the Middle East, but also to the world economy.

So what should be done?

Hope that Ahmadinejad wakes up someday and changes his mind?

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is insisting that any effort to rid the Middle East of nuclear weapons must include Israel.

That puts Israel in a tough spot.  The reality is that they have had nukes since the 1970s, and the presence of those nukes has caused potential invaders to think twice.

There is no way that Israel should ever give up their nukes, but insisting that everyone else but them in the region be nuke-free is a tough argument for the surrounding nations to swallow.

So what is going to happen?

We'll all just have to wait and find out - that is part of the fun of living in the last days.

But all signs are pointing to a massive conflict between Israel and Iran at some point. 

Let us pray for the peace of Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem.

Is war on the horizon in the Middle East?  Iran is certainly arming for one.  In fact, what we are witnessing now could potentially be considered the greatest military buildup in the history of the Middle East.  Basically what Iran has done is they have pushed all of their chips to the middle of the table and have decided that they are going to develop nuclear weapons no matter what.  Now they are arming themselves to the teeth for the confrontation with Israel and/or the United States that they know is coming at some point.  We all know that there will be wars in the last days, but when war erupts in the Middle East, things are not going to be pleasant - especially if nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are used.

Iran and Israel are caught in a bizarre game of chicken, and Iran is showing no signs of blinking.  In fact, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered his country's nuclear agency to begin the production of higher enriched uranium.  Iran seems to have no fear of sanctions or of anything else.  Perhaps they realize that Obama has absolutely no interest in a war with Iran.  Or perhaps they are just crazy.  In any event, Iran's leaders have set their course and they seem to have no intention of altering it.

In fact, they are arming themselves as if a coming war with Israel is inevitable....

*An Iranian air force commander said on Monday that Iran will soon unveil a domestically-made air defense system with at least the same capability as Russia's very powerful S-300 anti-aircraft hardware.  If this is true, it will be a major change in the balance of power.

*Iran has begun producing very advanced unmanned drones capable of carrying out devastating assaults "with high precision".   

*Iran has also announced that they officially started production of two new kinds of conventional missiles on Saturday.

*There are even persistent rumors that Iran is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially carry nuclear warheads.  If that ever comes to fruition, the United States would be in much greater danger.

So what does all of this mean?

It means that Iran is desperately trying to develop strategic weapons that will enable it to close the gap somewhat between itself and Israel and the United States.

There is no way that Iran can achieve strategic parity with the United States military right now, but if they can put enough of a hurt on the U.S. and Israel they know that the politicians in those two nations will think twice before striking.

And that could buy time for Iran to make nukes.

After all, the destruction of Israel is one of the stated goals of the Iranian government.

In fact, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that he believes that the obliteration of Israel "is certain".

That is dangerous talk.

Tensions are rising all over the Middle East.  It is being reported that one Syrian government official recently said that Syria is ready for either peace or war.

And war seems more likely by the day.

According to one new report, Egyptian maritime sources say that the Israeli navy has deployed two missile ships to the Persian Gulf.

Not that there is anything too unusual about that, but it is yet another move that is raising tensions in the region.

As noted above, we all know that war is inevitable in the last days.  But we are also instructed in the Scriptures to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  So let us pray for peace even as things move ever closer to war.

Even as Israel hands even more land over to the Palestinians, there are persistent rumors that Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Lebanon are preparing for war against Israel.  According to one disturbing new report by DEBKA, U.S. intelligence has discovered 5,000 Hezbollah terrorists that have been trained to take over and seize towns in Galilee during a future invasion of Israel.  Apparently the invasion plans that have been drawn up involve sending five Hezbollah brigades sweeping across the Israeli border to seize key towns in the region of Galilee.  Hamas would open a second front in the West Bank and Gaza, and Syria would then step into the conflict at that point.

Think that it can't happen?

The truth is that Hezbollah has been arming to the teeth since the last war.  Hezbollah has acquired chemical and biological warheads since then, and there have been reports that they have stockpiled over 40,000 rockets near the border of Israel.

Just in the past few weeks, Hezbollah has deployed advanced Syrian-made surface-to-surface M-600 missiles which have the range to cover the entire nation of Israel.

Hezbollah militants regularly receive training in Syria and Iran and the terrorist organization is essentially in control of large areas of Lebanon at this point.  They are a highly organized and increasingly dangerous military threat.

The United States government is even beginning to take notice.  U.S. State Department official Jeff Feltman said in remarks published on Sunday that the U.S. is concerned that the continued flow of arms to Hezbollah could prompt a war between Israel and Lebanon.

For years, Syria and Iran have used Hezbollah to wage a proxy war against the state of Israel, and Israeli officials are starting to get sick and tired of it.

In fact, one top Israeli official recently made it perfectly clear that in the event that a war between Israel and Lebanon does break out, Israel would hold Syria just as responsible.

The truth is that someday a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah will involve Syria and it will be an incredibly destructive war.  Let us just hope that it does not happen any time soon.

Meanwhile, Israel just keeps giving away their land to the Palestinians.

Under what is being called "intense" American pressure, Israel has silently agreed to allow the Palestinian Authority to open official institutions in eastern sections of Jerusalem.  This is an intermediate step towards officially giving the Palestinians East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

In addition, Palestinians sources said Sunday morning that Israel has agreed to hand over additional West Bank areas to the Palestinians as a trust-building measure.  Apparently the intent is to coax the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

But don't these politicians understand that they are cursing themselves when they giving away the land of Israel?

Israel should not be giving away one square inch of the land that God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

But they are going to continue to do it.

In fact, a Palestinian state is almost certainly on the way.

But it won't stop the war that is coming.

Israel will not ever achieve peace at the negotiating table.  It is impossible.

The only time that Israel will experience lasting peace is after Yahshua (Jesus) the Messiah returns.

What do you all think about these recent developments?  Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion....

Prior to World War 2, Adolf Hitler made all kinds of inflammatory statements, but most world leaders dismissed them.  They simply refused to believe that the madman was actually serious about what he was saying.  We can look back now and see what a big mistake that was, but the truth is that current world leaders have not learned from the mistakes of the past.  Today Iranian leaders continue to publicly state over and over that they look forward to wiping Israel off the map, but over and over world leaders do not seem to be taking these statements seriously.

For example, the official website of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reporting that he just told Mauritanian President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz that one day the Islamic nations of the world will witness the absolute destruction of the state of Israel.

Considering the fact that Khamenei is the most powerful person in Iran, you would think that someone would be alarmed by that statement.

The following is an English translation of an excerpt from Khamenei's statement....

"Surely, the day will come when the nations of the region will witness the destruction of the Zionist regime... when the destruction happens will depend on how the Islamic nations approach the issue."

It is this kind of talk that is bringing the world ever closer to World War 3, and yet most of the world yawns when they hear statements such as this apparently because they don't believe that we should take people like Khamenei seriously.

But this is a nation that has one of the most powerful militaries on the planet and that is on the verge of getting nuclear weapons.

For religious madmen who openly sponsor and support terror groups to possess nuclear weapons is a combination that will endanger the entire world.

And they are religious madmen. 

For example, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is claiming that the United States is purposely attempting to block the return of the Mahdi.

Most politicians in the West simply cannot identify with this kind of thinking and so they just dismiss it and don't take it seriously.

But things are about to get a whole lot more serious.  Iran recently announced a plan for 10 new industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities and has earmarked approximately 20 million dollars for terrorist groups fighting the West.  Iran has also successfully test long-range missiles and there were recently reports that Tehran was close to reaching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan.

These boys are quite serious about getting nukes.

Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel will retain some parts of the West Bank forever.  That will surely not sit well in Tehran.

A confrontation between Israel and Iran is coming.  Iran is obsessed with getting nukes and with wiping Israel off the map.  Israel is absolutely determined to prevent that from happening.  Anyone who thinks that the current state of affairs can continue indefinitely is in a complete state of denial.

For more on why Israel must do something about Iran's nuclear program, please see the following article....

Why Israel Simply Cannot Allow Iran To Have A Nuclear Weapon

Iran is reportedly close to reaching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan.  This deal would be in direct defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions.  Reports also indicate that Iran is willing to pay approximately 450 million dollars for the shipment.  The price for the shipment was apparently so high because of the need to keep the deal secret and because of the risk that the world community would find out about it.  But now the world community has found out about it.  

So why is Iran willing to defy United Nations sanctions to get their hands on more uranium?

Well, the truth is that Iran is probably running out of it and needs more uranium in order to continue their nuclear program at the same pace.

This comes at a time when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed a year end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Iran to accept a UN-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.

The United States and the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have threatened Iran with new sanctions if it did not accept a compromise deal by the end of this year.

According to the plan brokered in October by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran is supposed to export low-enriched uranium to Russia and France which would conduct further enrichment for them.

But Iran has publicly announced that they intend to do the additional enrichment themselves.

Meanwhile, a maverick Iraqi politician is warning that Iran could "go nuclear" within weeks.

In an interview earlier this month, Iraqi parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi made the following statements....

"We are receiving information which says Iran is so close to producing an atom bomb."

"All the international community, they don't realize how close [the Iranians] are to the goal... The Iranians will surprise us one day [soon] and say, 'We have it.'"

Those are sobering statements.

Especially when you consider the implications.

The truth is that Israel simply cannot allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.

The Israeli government is keeping a close eye on the situation in Iran and realizes that they cannot allow Iran to proceed with their nuclear ambitions forever.

In fact, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said recently that the year 2010 will be a decisive year for Iran and its nuclear plan.

A decisive year?

Could that mean war in 2010 or 2011?

What would happen if Israel did strike Iran's nuclear program?

Well, according to one new report, Iran would launch a counterattack on Israel and on all U.S. bases in the Gulf region if Israel does strike Iran's nuclear facilities.

If Iran did that, it could spark a massive war that could engulf the entire Middle East.  The consequences of such a war would be mind boggling.

But before resorting to a military strike, it is likely that the governments of the West will continue to try to promote an internal revolution in Iran.  Changing the regime in that manner would be a lot "easier" for Western nations than a full scale war.  However, the prospects for a successful internal revolution in Iran at this point seem dim at best.

What does seem clear at this point is that Bible prophecy will continue to be fulfilled in 2010.  We are truly living in the last days, and there are times when it will be absolutely terrifying, but who wouldn't want to live during one of the most exciting times in all of human history?

As Barack Obama and the United Nations twiddle their thumbs, Iran is aggressively moving towards the development of a strategic nuclear arsenal.  Not only has Iran successfully tested a long range missile that can hit targets well over a thousand miles away, but new intelligence documents show that Iran is actively working on some of the key components necessary for a nuclear bomb.  The truth is that Iran knows that once they have an arsenal of hundreds of nuclear warheads, nations such as the United States and Israel will be much, much more hesitant to attack them and they will be able to do pretty much whatever they please on the world scene.   

The fact that Iran greatly desires to become a strategic military power was underlined just the other day when Iran successfully test fired a long range missile that can reportedly hit targets 1,250 miles away.  This will now give Iran the capability to easily hit Israel, U.S. bases in the Gulf, and most of southeast Europe.

The Pentagon is so concerned about these developments in Iran that they will actually test its core missile defenses for the first time in January against a simulated long-range Iranian attack.

The reality is that it is now only a matter of time until Iran develops even longer range weapons that will be able to directly target the United States.

In "Surat al-Fil" ("The Elephant"), one of the Qur’an’s shortest chapters, Allah sends a flock of birds to destroy the followers of Sultan Abraha.  In the story these followers of Sultan Abraha were to be destroyed because they were plotting to destroy the Kaaba.  So, according to the story, Allah equips these birds with baked clay stones, which they end up hurling at the elephants of Sultan Abraha, supposedly stopping his advance toward the city.

Imagine having the continued existence of your family each day depend on an Ayatollah over in Iran deciding not to press a button.

And the truth is that Iran is much closer to being able to produce a nuclear bomb than ever before.

On Tuesday, Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin said that Iran has now accumulated enough materials to create a nuclear bomb.

So will they?

Well, confidential intelligence documents obtained by one U.K. newspaper clearly show that Iran is working on testing a key final component for a nuclear bomb. 

In particular, the documents reveal plans by Iran to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.

Uh oh.

Why haven't we heard more about this on the news?

David Albright, a physicist and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington is quoted in The Times as saying the following about this trigger....

“Although Iran might claim that this work is for civil purposes, there is no civil application.”

The mention of UD3 in the documents is of particular concern to intelligence analysts.  UD3 is commonly used as a neutron source - the trigger to the chain reaction for a nuclear explosion.

But of course Iran continues to insist that they are developing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only.

If you believe that, we have a bridge to sell you.

While there are some politicians around the globe who seem to be buying into Iran's nonsense, fortunately the government of Israel seems to be acutely aware of what is going on.

In fact, Israeli experts are now saying that "the point of no return" for Iran's nuclear program may be only six months away.

Only six months away?

Could there be a war in 2010?

Let's hope not.

Or let us hope that it is delayed as long as possible.

But the truth is that Israel cannot let Iran have nukes. 

If you do not understand this yet, please read this article: "Why Israel Simply Cannot Allow Iran To Have A Nuclear Weapon".

So if Iran does not change course, they will be attacked.

But one key question is this....

If Israel attacks Iran, will Syria attack Israel?

If Syria does attack Israel that could spark a war that engulfs the entire Middle East. 

In fact, there are rumors that Iran and Hezbollah could be preparing for a pre-emptive war.

So what are Barack Obama and the U.S. government doing about all of this?

Not much.

In a move that was supposedly designed to deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, the U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation to impose sanctions on foreign companies that help supply gasoline to Iran.

Do you think that the Iranian leadership is shaking in their boots over that?

The truth is that this is one of the most bizarre games of "chicken" in the history of the Middle East.  Whoever shoots first is going to be at a great disadvantage in terms of world opinion, but the truth is that Israel simply cannot wait forever.

These developments represent just another indication that we are really living in the last days before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Years ago, God gave modern prophets such as Henry Gruver and Dumitru Duduman visions of the nuclear destruction of America.  At the time many people scoffed and laughed because they could not see how anyone would ever dare attack the United States considering the fact that we had thousands of nuclear missiles ready to obliterate anyone who messed with us.  However, times have radically changed.  Now Barack Obama is proposing to strip America's nuclear arsenal down to just a few hundred deployed nuclear warheads, and there has not been any uproar about it.  Will Barack Obama's policy of extreme disarmament set the stage for the nuclear destruction of America in the last days as foreseen by Henry Gruver and Dumitru Duduman?

A number of months ago in Prague, Barack Obama openly called for a world free of nuclear weapons during one of his first major foreign policy speeches.

When many politicians speak of such "pie in the sky" proposals, people do not take them seriously.

But it turns out that Barack Obama was deadly serious.

In fact, Barack Obama is now demanding that the U.S. military conduct a "radical review" of the U.S. nuclear weapons program in preparation for "deep cuts" to America's nuclear arsenal.

So how "deep" is deep?

Well, right now the United States military has about 2,600 nuclear warheads deployed, with another 2,500 in reserve and 4,000 more that are scheduled to be dismantled.

But the Obama administration wants to change all that.

Barack Obama has been working hard to negotiate a deal with the Russians to reduce the nuclear arsenals of both the United States and Russia to 1,500 warheads.

However, the Obama administartion views those cuts as only a first step towards even larger cuts.

According to the Guardian, Barack Obama completely rejected the U.S. military's first draft of the "nuclear posture review".

So just why did Barack Obama reject the report?

According to reports it was far "too timid" for Obama.

Obama is not interested in slight cuts to America's nuclear arsenal.

Obama wants to almost completely eliminate it.

Instead of the arsenal of thousands of deployed nuclear warheads that the United States has now, the Obama administration envisions a U.S. nuclear arsenal with only a few hundred deployed nuclear warheads.  Reportedly, the eventual goal is to completely abolish nuclear weapons altogether.

The Guardian quotes one anonymous European official as saying the following about how Barack Obama is approaching nuclear disarmament: "Obama is now driving this process. He is saying these are the president's weapons, and he wants to look again at the doctrine and their role."

What in the world?

Since when did the U.S. nuclear weapons that are protecting America become Barack Obama's weapons?

But apparently the Obama administration is convinced that "the Cold War" is over and that the U.S. will never need a large nuclear arsenal again.

However, the truth is that a large strategic nuclear arsenal is the only thing that has been keeping America safe for the past five or six decades.  The Soviet Union had conventional military forces that were far larger than the U.S. had, and it was only our strategic weapons that kept them from attacking us or from trying to aggressively expand their empire into Europe.

But the threat of the Soviet Union is in the past, isn't it?

No, it is not.

The truth is that Russia is stronger today than it has been in ages, and now China has emerged as an ally of Russia and a very powerful strategic threat in their own right.

Part of the deal that Obama is negotiating with the Russians would allow the Russians to inspect U.S. nuclear sites.

If the U.S. dramatically reduces the size of their strategic nuclear arsenal, and if the Russians know exactly where those weapons are, it will be much easier to take out the vast majority of America's nukes in a devastating first strike.

So how would Russia do such a thing?

The truth is that Russia's next generation subs are so quiet that they can creep all the way up to U.S. coastlines without even being detected most of the time.

The U.S. military was certainly stunned recently to learn that two Russian nuclear submarines had been patrolling off the east coast of the United States.

According to news reports, two Akula class nuclear-powered submarines were lurking in international waters just 200 miles of the U.S. coast.

From such a position, subs such as those could rain nukes down on the United States in as little as 5 minutes.

According to the Times, Naval historian Norman Polmar considered this action by the Russians to be highly unusual: “I don’t think they’ve put two first-line nuclear subs off the US coast in about 15 years."

Russia has also recently resumed flying their strategic bombers along NATO borders. About these flights, Russia's deputy chief of general staff, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, recently said this:

"This is our right -- we felt bored making circles along our internal routes."

While the vast majority of the American people have no inkling of the Russian threat, the truth is that the Russian military has made a dramatic comeback.

Russia and China both view the United States as their number one enemy, and both nations have accelerated their military programs.

Meanwhile the U.S. pours all of its resources into trying to find terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Any terrorists hiding in caves in the Middle East are not the major threat that the United States should be concerned about.

What the U.S. should be concerned about is the super silent Russian subs that could one day rain down nukes on American cities.

In fact, quite a few modern prophets have prophesied that this is EXACTLY how the Russians will one day attack the United States.

For instance, the video posted below contains Henry Gruver's shocking vision of Russian submarines attacking the United States with nuclear missiles.....

Another example is found in this next video.  The late Romanian prophet Dumitru Duduman was also given a vision of American cities being destroyed by nuclear weapons....

The reality is that the United States should be incredibly concerned about Russian submarines patrolling off the U.S. coastline.

But instead Barack Obama wants to strip the U.S. nuclear arsenal down to almost nothing in the name of "peace".

Well, the truth is that Barack Obama's "peace" could lead to the nuclear destruction of American cities someday.

If the prophets above are right, that is exactly what is going to happen.

Israel cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.  It is really just that simple.  The truth is that Iran funds and sponsors major terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah which are fanatically committed to the complete annihilation of the state of Israel.  Iran has not been shy about arming Hezbollah with extremely advanced weaponry with which to conduct its campaign of terrorism against Israel, and there is little doubt that once Iran develops nuclear bombs that they would give them to Hezbollah or to some other terrorist group dedicated to destroying the nation of Israel.

You see, Iran itself is absolutely committed to wiping the nation of Israel off the map.  No amount of diplomacy or negotiation is going to change that fact. 

If you do not believe this, the following quotes from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the state of Israel should prove very revealing.....

"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."

"Remove Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations."

"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land. As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

"Israel is a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed."

"Israel is a rotten, dried tree that will be annihilated in one storm."

There is no doubt about how the president of Iran feels, and the truth is that his views are representative of the Islamic fanatics that run Iran.

They are obsessed with the destruction of Israel as a nation.

So when they develop nuclear weapons will they immediately launch them at Israel?

No, of course not.

You see, Iran is fighting its war against Israel through proxies.

The primary proxy that Iran uses is Hezbollah.

Iran arms, funds and helps train Hezbollah and then gets Hezbollah to do the dirty work while they sit back in safety.

When Hezbollah launches rockets at Israel, does the world blame Iran?

Of course not.  But they should.

What if those Hezbollah rockets were one day armed with nuclear warheads?

Or, what if Hezbollah agents started smuggling suitcase nukes into Israeli cities?

If a nuke suddenly went off in an Israeli city how could Israel hold Iran directly responsible.

They may not know who is responsible.

It would be a complete and total nightmare.

This is why Israel cannot let the nuclear genie out of the bottle in Iran.

It would inevitably lead to nuclear terrorism inside the state of Israel.

But Iran is now getting very close to developing a nuclear bomb.

Senior officials at the IAEA have concluded in a confidential analysis that that nation of Iran has now acquired "sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable" nuclear weapon.

The U.N. nuclear agency’s report presents evidence that Iran has done extensive research and testing on how to fashion the components of a nuclear weapon.

It is the open secret that nobody has wanted to talk about.

Iran wants the bomb and they are working feverishly to get it.

In fact, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists that he believes are helping Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

Israel knows what is going on.

It is almost like Iran and Israel are playing some bizarre game of chicken and trying to see who will blink first.

Iran shows no signs of ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Israel has repeatedly said that it will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.

A military strike by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities appears to be inevitable.

Time is quickly running out, and each day it becomes clearer that the end result of all of this is going to be war.

The arms race in the Middle East is now officially out of control.  As if tensions in that region were not high enough, there are now reports that Hezbollah is stockpiling chemical and biological weapons near Israel's border, that Syria is about to start receiving MiGs from Russia and that Iran has developed systems that can now intercept stealth cruise missiles.

In a region where it seems like war is almost always ready to erupt, this is really, really bad news.

According to DEBKA, European intelligence sources have recently indicated that Hezbollah has received and is stockpiling a supply of chemical shells and short-range missiles with chemical warheads.  These types of shells and warheads can do much, much more damage to a civilian population than the rockets that were fired into Israel during previous conflicts.

When you couple this news with the previous report that Hezbollah has stockpiled over 40,000 rockets near the border of Israel, this all becomes very ominous. 

Not only that, but according to DEBKA's sources,  Hezbollah is about to receive biological weapons as well.  The amount of devastation that a terrorist organization can achieve with just a few of those is mind blowing. 

One of DEBKA's sources describes the new Hezbollah as "bad guys with good strategic vision."

If that wasn't bad enough, a Russian newspaper is reporting that Russia has agreed to sell advanced MiG fighter jets to Syria but has not yet begun delivering the planes.

If this is true, and there is no reason to believe that it is not, then this would totally change the air superiority equation in the Middle East.  Up until now, the Israeli air force has always been vastly superior to the Syrians, but this would equal things up significantly.

One Israeli defense official put it this way in the Jerusalem Post: "If Syria gets new MiG-31s, this will pose a definite threat to our air force."

Not only that, but there are several troubling reports about Iran's military buildup.

Firstly, Iran is now claiming that it has developed weapons systems that are able to intercept stealth cruise missiles.  If this is true (and they are prone to exaggeration) then this substantially upgrades Iran's defensive capabilities.

Secondly, DEBKA is reporting that Iran is now closer then ever to being able to produce a nuclear bomb.  According to DEBKA, Iran will have stockpiled enough high-grade enriched uranium for two nuclear bombs by February 2010.

Will Israel wait that long to strike?

Only time will tell.

Lastly, there are now rumors that the cargo ship that was hijacked and subsequently disappeared in the Arctic Sea was carrying S-300 missiles bound for Iran.

S-300 missiles are Russia's most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, and if they had gotten to Russia it would have seriously made it much more difficult for Israel to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.  Thus there are rumors that seem to be very persistent that Israel may have been involved in the disappearance of the Russian cargo ship.

In fact, one anonymous source told a U.K. newspaper that in the event of a strike on Iran's nuclear installations, S-300 missiles would likely increase Israeli casualties by up to 50 percent.

So what does all this mean?

It means that both sides are getting ready for something.  A major war in the Middle East is closer now than it has been in ages, and if something is not done this seething cauldron of tension is likely to boil over.

Let's hope that does not happen any time soon.

Has the United States now decided to that they are going to allow Israel to strike Iran's nuclear program?  If new remarks from Vice President Joe Biden are to be taken seriously, then that indeed appears to be the case.

In a stunning new interview with ABC's George Stephanoupolos, vice president Joe Biden stated the following: "Look, Israel can determine for itself — it's a sovereign nation — what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else."

In response, Stephanoupolos asked whether Israel can do what they want whether or not the U.S. agrees with that course of action.

Joe Biden's response?

"Whether we agree or not."

Subsequently, Biden also added this: 

"And so there are separate issues. If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice. "

Stephanopoulos sought to clarify this point by asking this question:

"But just to be clear here, if the Israelis decide Iran is an existential threat, they have to take out the nuclear program, militarily the United States will not stand in the way?"

In response, Biden answered this way:

"Look, we cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do.

This was the very first time that an Obama administration official has publicly left the door open for an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear sites.

In addition, there are now reports circulating in the mainstream media that Saudi Arabia has agreed to turn a blind eye to Israeli warplanes flying over their territory in a raid on Iran's nuclear sites.

Officially, these reports are being denied, but they are very intriguing.

You see, Saudi Arabia would not be too thrilled with Iran getting their hands on nuclear weapons.  Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim nation, while Iran is the largest Shiite Muslim nation in the world.  There is a long history of violence between Sunnis and Shiites.  While both sects of Islam believe in Islamic world dominance, both are also deeply committed to seeing their own particular "brand" of Islam triumph in the end.

Therefore, Saudi Arabia has a vested interest in making sure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons.

So, it appears that everything is starting to line up for an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear program.

The truth is that Israel never intended to let Iran acquire nuclear weapons.

Nor should they.

Let us just hope that when they do strike that it will not spark a larger war.