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?