The reaction to the latest news of the US reassessment of Iran’s nuclear threat has been well received in the middle east, particularly Iran. It appears that perhaps President Bush was presented with a choice at Annapolis – back off Iran, or OPEC abandons the dollar(?).
Do you see this new development as a major step in the direction of “peace and safety” (1 Thes 5:3) before the sudden destruction? In other words, the US states that there is no problem in order to save the economy, Europe goes along for the same reasons, the middle east goes along aware of their true objectives, and Israeli leaders go along in appeasement, or in deception – then when everyone agrees there is “no threat” and we can live in “peace and safety” BOOM – sudden destruction and the church is out of here!
I don’t have a clear take on this because there are several dots that I haven’t been able to connect yet. Here’s what I mean.
1. After a huge build up of Naval forces in the Gulf that everybody thought was a run up to the attack on Iran, the US intelligence community has suddenly “discovered” that there hasn’t been a threat since 2003.
2. This was right on the heels of a disastrous meeting between Iran and the EU where Iran’s brand new nuclear negotiator told Javier Solana that all previous understandings were revoked, they’re back to square one, and the discussion is over.
3. At the same time Iran is working hard to influence OPEC to abandon the dollar.
4. Then Iran and Saudi Arabia publicly cozy up at the 28th annual meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a group of Arab nations specifically formed to counter Iran’s revolutionary activities in the Persian Gulf. The heads of the two countries were literally holding hands as they arrived together. Iran has never been invited to those meetings before and is not even an Arab country, but this year made a major speech there calling for regional cooperation against “outsiders”.
5. Then after pulling out all the stops to get “moderate” Arabs to Annapolis, the US suddenly withdraws the resolution they had written for the purpose of calling the meeting a success after Israel discovered that it would obligate them to the Security Council. It turns out that Israel hadn’t been consulted in advance.
6. At Annapolis, Israeli delegates had to use the service entrance because Arabs refused to share the main entrance with them, Jewish reporters were barred from Arab meetings, the US refused to share intelligence with Israel and didn’t warn them about the impending about face on Iran. In Israel, several senior officials feel like the US has cut Israel loose to fend for itself.
I don’t know if this is all coincidental or not, but I doubt it. Instead it’s beginning to look as if there’s been some big behind the scenes confrontation with Iran, and the US and Saudi Arabia have blinked. I guess the proof will come if we don’t hear any more about OPEC being pressured to abandon the dollar, and if the real purpose of Pres. Bush’s coming visit to the Middle East is to force a Palestinian state on Israel.
If this is all some gigantic power play then Ezekiel 38 is back on the fast track, since an effort by the US to stop or delay Iran’s acquisition of Nukes could have set things back several years. As believers we should consider the possibility that God’s time may be nearer than we thought.