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Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Showing posts with label Tehran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tehran. Show all posts
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Isaiah Prophecy Appears as Sea of Galilee Hits Lowest Water Levels in 100 Years - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Joel Rosenberg: “Iran provokes the world as Obama does nothing.” Who said this? You might be surprised.
"Iran is following through on the nuclear deal it struck with a U.S.-led coalition in an utterly predictable way: It is racing to fulfill those parts of the accord that will allow it to collect $100 billion in frozen funds and end sanctions on its oil exports and banking system, while expanding its belligerent and illegal activities in other areas — and daring the West to respond. Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s response to these provocations has also been familiar. It is doing its best to downplay them — and thereby encouraging Tehran to press for still-greater advantage."
Who said this? You might be surprised. It wasn't Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It wasn't one of the GOP presidential candidates. Nor was it the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal or a conservative foreign policy analyst.
These are actually the opening lines of a Washington Post editorial published on December 20. The liberal editors of the Post go on to blast the Obama administration's "fecklessness" in willfully "ignoring" Iran's blatant violations of the nuclear accord.
Consider the rest of the editorial:
We’ve pointed out how the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has unjustly sentenced Post correspondent Jason Rezaian to prison and arrested two businessmen with U.S. citizenship or residence since signing the nuclear accord. There have been no penalties for those outrageous violations of human rights. Now a United Nations panel has determined that Iran test-fired a nuclear-capable missile on Oct. 10 with a range of at least 600 miles, in violation of a U.N. resolution that prohibits such launches. Moreover, it appears likely that a second missile launch occurred on Nov. 21, also in violation of Security Council Resolution 1929.
The U.S. response? "We are now actively considering the appropriate consequences to that launch in October," State Department official Stephen Mull testified at a Senate committee hearing Thursday. In other words, there have so far been none — other than a speech by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations blaming the Security Council for the lack of action. As for the second missile launch, the administration claims to be investigating it, though it likely has in its possession the intelligence necessary to make a judgment.
It’s not hard to guess the reasons for this fecklessness. President Obama is reluctant to do anything that might derail the nuclear deal before Iran carries out its commitments, including uninstalling thousands of centrifuges and diluting or removing tons of enriched uranium. The same logic prompted him to tolerate Iran’s malign interventions in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, along with the arrest of Mr. Rezaian, while the pact was under negotiation.
U.S. officials argue that Iran’s nonnuclear violations make it all the more important that the nuclear deal be implemented. But that ignores the clear connections between the missile launches and Tehran’s ambitions to become a nuclear power. The only practical military purpose of the missiles the regime is testing is to carry atomic warheads. And while missile launches are not prohibited by the nuclear pact itself, the separate resolution banning them remains in effect until the deal is implemented, after which a new resolution takes effect that calls on Iran not to develop such missiles for eight years.
By flouting the U.N. resolutions, Iran is clearly testing the will of the United States and its allies to enforce the overall regime limiting its nuclear ambitions. If there is no serious response, it will press the boundaries in other areas — such as the inspection regime. It will take maximum advantage of Mr. Obama’s fear of undoing a legacy achievement, unless and until its bluff is called. That’s why the administration would be wise to take firm action now in response to the missile tests rather than trying to sweep them under the carpet.
I don't often say this, but it's true: the editors of the Washington Post are correct in their observations and analysis. The White House and State Department are ignoring the Iranian regime's willful disregard of the nuclear accord.
What the Post editors don't say -- but should -- is that this refusal to require Iran to keep the agreement is making a dangerous situation far more dangerous. Why? Because Iran's leaders are not just driven by Radical Islam. They are driven by Apocalyptic Islam. They believe the End of Days has come. They believe their savior or messiah known as the "Mahdi" or the "Twelfth Imam" is coming at any moment to establish a global Islamic kingdom or caliphate. And they believe they must develop a nuclear weapons arsenal to help pave the way for a world without Jews and Christians. Western leaders ignore the threat of Apocalyptic Islam at their peril, and ours.
I once wrote a trilogy of novels about such a nightmare scenario. This is far more frightening...because it's true.
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- Eerie front-page NYT story examines ISIS prophecies about an apocalyptic showdown in Syrian town of Dabiq. (Story looks ripped from THE FIRST HOSTAGE, my forthcoming novel about a showdown over Dabiq.)
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Wednesday, December 2, 2015
With All Eyes on ISIS, Iran ‘Drills’ Israel’s Destruction By P. David Hornik - BIN
With All Eyes on ISIS, Iran ‘Drills’ Israel’s Destruction
“Paramilitary forces from Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard have held a war game simulating the capture of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israeli control,” the Associated Press reports.
…thousands of members of the Basij, the paramilitary unit of the Guard, participated in Friday’s exercise outside the holy city of Qom in central Iran.
The symbolic operations were backed up by Guard helicopters, drones and Tucano planes that bombed hypothetical enemy positions before ground troops captured the replica of the mosque set up at the top of a mountain….
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Guard’s aerospace division, said his force deployed Shahed-129, or Witness-129, drones during the war games. The drone, unveiled in 2013, has a range of 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles), a 24-hour nonstop flight capability and can carry eight bombs or missiles.
AP then informs us that it’s not really anything to worry about:
Even so, the exercise appeared to be largely for show. Iranian commanders have not said how they would be able to deploy large numbers of forces against Israel, located 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away, or overcome Israel’s powerful and technologically advanced military.
Actually, there are ways that they can do that. One is to use the immense windfall they stand to reap from last July’s nuclear deal, in the form of lifted sanctions and boosted trade and oil sales, to build up their capabilities. Another is to create a land bridge westward to the Mediterranean, something they’re striving to do at all times.
And another is to rely on the Western preoccupation with the Islamic State, and increasing tendency to treat Iran as a strategic ally and stabilizing force, to keep pursuing their plans relatively untrammeled.
Ehud Yaari, a veteran Israeli Middle East analyst, takes Iran’s aims seriously enough that he devoted a long analysis to them called “How Iran Plans to Destroy Israel.” “The Islamic Republic of Iran,” Yaari notes, “has been committed for the past 36 years to a doctrine aimed at wiping Israel off the map. Statements to this effect still pour out of Tehran almost daily.”
For one thing,
Iran is relying on its rapidly growing arsenal of long-range missiles…. [T]he leaders have long emphasized to Iranian military commanders the need to develop missiles that can reach Israel in particular. This began with [Supreme Leader] Khamenei’s order for missiles with a 1,000-kilometer range that, if launched from Iran’s western border, could hit Israel. Still later, Khamenei instructed his commanders to acquire missiles with a 2,000-kilometer range, allowing for a successful hit on Israel from most of Iran’s territory. And later still Khamenei personally ordered that the accuracy of the missiles should be dramatically improved.
What about Iranian forces reaching Israel itself, as in the Revolutionary Guard’s Al-Aqsa drill? Yaari acknowledges that, apart from its missile arsenal, at present Iran’s air force, navy, and ground forces have only limited capabilities. But “all this may change if Iran decides to allocate resources, derived from [the] nuclear deal, to a major effort to project military power beyond its borders.”
As Yaari notes, Iran already sponsors terror militias on Israel’s Gaza and Lebanon borders and has been striving to create a similar threat—based in part on its own forces—on Israel’s Golan border with Syria. Beyond all that,
Some Iranians imagine the creation of a land corridor from Iran through Shi‘a regions in Iraq to its desert al-Anbar province and from there to Syria and Lebanon. Establishing such a corridor would require at least the tacit cooperation of the authorities in Bagdad (where Iran already enjoys predominance) or the power brokers in Iraq’s southern provinces. It would definitely require [overcoming] the Islamic State’s current control over key sectors of western Iraq…. Some militiamen have made it all the way to Damascus to protect that capital from a Sunni onslaught, so anything is possible.
The Islamic State is, of course, a murderous threat in itself that should ideally be decimated and destroyed. But it should not be at the cost of further empowering Iran—which, with its ever-advancing (despite the deal) nuclear program and its missiles that can already reach most of Europe, constitutes a far greater threat.
Since the Vienna deal Iran has further boosted uranium enrichment, tested a nuclear-capable missile in breach of a UN Security Council ban, arrested yet another American citizen and an American resident, and continued its “Death to America, Death to Israel” rallies to Khamenei’s approval. Also, Khamenei has published a 416-page book called Palestine that mandates both Israel’s and America’s destruction.
Yes, the Islamic State has lately mounted deadly attacks in Beirut, Baghdad, Sinai, and Paris, and there is talk of it developing chemical or biological weapons. Iran has a much longer history of such attacks, is a country of 80 million people with exponentially greater power than the Islamic State, and is on the way to—or may already have reached—nuclear weapons.
The West is, unfortunately, all too capable of pretending Iran is its ally against a more graphic but, meanwhile, much smaller threat. It’s a potentially catastrophic mistake.
Reprinted with author’s permission from PJ Media
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Has the agreement with Iran placed military options back on the table?
Has the agreement with Iran placed military options back on the table?
Wednesday, July 15, 2015 | Israel Today Staff
The world has placed the fate of the Middle East in the hands of the regime in Tehran, which is not trustworthy. Most Israeli commentators are of this opinion and appalled by the agreement, which has been concluded with Tehran by the P5 + 1 world powers. The agreement does not keep Iran from attaining nuclear capability, neither does it reign in its nuclear infrastructure. While US President Barack Obama celebrates the biggest foreign policy success of his tenure, once again there is talk in Israel of a possible military strike against Iran.
"Israel should take the necessary precautions, if Iran violates the agreement," writes columnist Ron Ben-Yishai in the news portal Ynetnews. From Israel's perspective, the agreement has brought the military option back to the table. "The Israeli government will have to decide whether it wants to attack Iran or not, if the ayatollahs decide to build a nuclear bomb." According to experts, Iran currently needs about a year to build a nuclear weapon and use it. If Iran violates the agreement and secretly continues to enrich uranium, the regime could build a nuclear device much faster. We are talking about a matter of a few weeks.
In Tehran, people cheered and celebrated the imminent end of the sanctions with processions and motorcades. In Jerusalem Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized again that the world's future is now more uncertain because of the Agreement, the international community has committed a mistake of historic proportions. Germany's Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier rejected Israel's criticism and stated that any Iranian bid for an atom bomb will be excluded reliable and verifiable for the foreseeable future. "I can say with full conviction, that this is an agreement that brings security to the world, the region and even the neighbors of Iran," said Steinmeier.
In the mainstream media the agreement is being hailed as an historic breakthrough and are accusing Netanyahu of fomenting fear of Iran for domestic political reasons, having ensured Netanyahu three electoral victories. Emphasis has been placed on the substantive achievements of the agreement with Tehran: The number of centrifuges being reduced by two thirds, the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors being granted access to all sites and the UN arms embargo remaining in force for another five years. In return, the sanctions will be gradually lifted, but can again take effect in the case of infringements of the agreement at any time.
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Sunday, July 12, 2015
'There Are Christians Praying for Israel Inside Iran'
'There Are Christians Praying for Israel Inside Iran'
Sunday, July 12, 2015 | Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY
“I love Israel,” an Iranian delegate told a conference in Manchester aimed at building bridges between Middle Eastern followers of Jesus.
“I may be from Iran, but I love Israel, and there are Christians praying for Israel inside Iran.”
The young man, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, was addressing the UK at the Crossroads event hosted by the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ), a 200-year-old Anglican society.
A refugee forced to flee Iran because he had become a Christian, he spoke of the growing church in his adopted city led by a pastor who gives clear teaching about the special place of Israel in God’s purposes.
With the government and police on his case after converting to Christianity from Islam (which is against the law), he and his wife fled Iran three years ago, hidden in a wooden box on the back of a lorry for a tortuous 72-day journey to the UK. God watched over every detail, even in directing him to an Iranian church when he finally arrived in an English city.
Although financially secure back home with a house and car, he was empty inside and became disillusioned by the harshness of Islam. A troubling home life didn’t help and he became addicted to medicinal drugs until he learnt to play the sitar. For the first time in his life, he was given a hug, and began to share his problems with his tutor who eventually prayed for him with the laying on of hands in Jesus’ name. He was instantly healed, and subsequently became a believer. Now he wakes up every morning thanking Jesus for bringing him out of darkness.
Another ex-Muslim from Iran struggled to comprehend the harshness of the religion and was “switched on” to Christianity after watching a film about Jesus. She initially came to the UK to visit relatives and subsequently married an Englishman. Her faith, however, was put on the backburner until her five-week-old daughter was diagnosed with a tumour. It reminded her that she was a Christian who “knew someone who could sort it out” and her now five-year-old girl recovered so well that she is even swimming already.
A teenage boy, born in Tehran, told the conference how he turned his back on strict Muslim observance when his heart was touched by a church’s worship band.
Music was regarded as sinful among his radical group. But he was sickened by the brutal treatment of soldiers and shocked by the discovery of guns in a mosque. He realised he was being taught to kill and control people. He had been reaching out to God from an early age, but had found no answers until – in the UK – he heard people talking of Jesus. He reluctantly accepted an invitation to church, where his heart was melted by the music. “They told me this wasn’t about religion, but a relationship with God, which was exactly what I had been looking for all those years. I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, and what a difference it made. Now he’s my Lord, my God …my everything!”
An Iranian bishop, meanwhile, spoke of the suffering endured by Christians in a country where he also experienced discrimination as a member of the Jewish community, who were forced to live in designated areas.
Rt Rev Iraj Kalimi Mottahedh came to faith in Jesus through the influence of his uncle and became minister of a church visited by the Queen and the Shah of Iran. But when the revolution struck in 1979, the Anglican Church was the first to be targeted. A pastor was killed and an assassination attempt was made on the bishop at the time, who survived despite being shot through the head six times.
Iraj himself, who took charge when the bishop left, was imprisoned for eight months, unable to leave the country for twelve years and forbidden to accept Muslim converts into his church.
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