More Rumors of War: One Step Closer

Today, as with almost every day recently, we see one more step towards war in the Middle East. The first article reminds us to read Ezekiel 38-39:

Russia: Attack On Tehran Is Attack On Moscow

Russia has given Iran its bear hug and warns Israel and the West that an attack on Tehran would be considered an attack on Moscow. The threat heightens the prospect of World War III in the event of a military strike on Iran.

Actually, when Russia and Iran do align militarily and go to war against Israel, there will be no "world war" because biblical prophecy informs us that Israel will be completely isolated: no nation will come to their defense. Only God will come to the aid of Israel, and He will do so in dramatic fashion. Ezekiel 38-39 tells the story.

“Iran is our neighbor,” Russia's outgoing ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, told reporters in Brussels. “And if Iran is involved in any military action, it’s a direct threat to our security.”

Rogozin warned on Friday that more attacks on Iran could cause "a scorching Arab Summer."

Russia also has come to the defense of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, warning Western nations not to intervene in Syria with military forces. Russia is a major arms supplier to Syria and has a heavy investment in Iran’s nuclear facilities.

We can already see the world aligning against Israel. The UN has been doing it for years. Below we see just one of many such examples:

UN Chief Slams Settlements, Calls For End To "Occupation"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday slammed Israeli settlements as illegal and called for an end to the "occupation," AFP reported.

Speaking at a conference on democracy in the Arab world in Beirut, Ban said that "the Israeli occupation of Arab and Palestinian territories" and "violence against civilians" must end.

"Settlements, new and old, are illegal. They work against the emergence of a viable Palestinian state," the UN chief stated.

Ban added: "A two-state solution is long overdue. The status quo offers only the guarantee of future conflict."

Iran Vows Retaliation Against Israel For Scientist

A senior Iranian commander vowed retaliation against Israel, the US and Britain for what he perceives as their role in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist last week.

“The opponents of [Iran's Islamic] Revolution and the nation's progress should have no doubt that the punitive response to the US, the Zionist regime (Israel) and their criminal accomplices will be delivered in an opportune time,” Iran's Press TV quoted deputy armed forces chief, Brig.-Gen. Massoud Jazayeri as saying on Sunday.

On Friday, TIME Magazine quoted unnamed western intelligence sources as saying Israel's Mossad is responsible for training and paying the assassins of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists over the past two years.

Iran Warns Gulf States Not To Replace Its Oil

Iran warned its Arab neighbors on Sunday not to raise crude output to replace Iranian oil in the event of an embargo by the European Union, Tehran's OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi was quoted as saying.

"The consequences of this issue are unpredictable. Therefore, our Arab neighbor countries should not cooperate with these adventurers and should adopt wise policies," Khatibi said in an interview with the Sharq newspaper.

European Union countries have agreed in principle to embargo imports of Iranian as part of the latest Western efforts to step up heat on Tehran.

Iran has threatened to block the vital oil shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions imposed on its oil exports.

U.S. Nervous, Sends Army General To Calm Down Israel

The Obama administration is sending the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey to Israel this Thursday to try to change what it sees as Israel’s increasing readiness to attack Iran.

Both Israel and the United States have stated they would not rule out a military strike on Tehran to prevent the Islamic Republic from reaching the capability of attacking Israel, or elsewhere, with a nuclear weapon. However, American officials are worried that Israel is closer to concluding that the “point of no return” is at hand, after which it may be too late to stop Iran.

The nervousness in Washington is aggravated by its officials not really knowing what are the intentions of Israel. "It's hard to know what's bluster and what's not with the Israelis," a former U.S. official to the Journal.

The last quote above leads directly to this article:

Israel Hoodwinking The "Bird"

A U.S. intelligence source tells G2Bulletin that the Israelis, who know the overflight schedule of U.S. surveillance satellites monitoring their war preparations, wait until the “bird” passes and then resume what appears to be increased mobilization activities, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Sources say the Israelis are making war preparations, but subtly, in an effort to lessen the world’s notice, and they may be further along than U.S. imagery analysts are able to assess.

Hezbollah is known to have stored up more than 50,000 rockets to be used against Israel should it undertake a military strike against Iran, or if Lebanon itself is attacked.

Similarly, Hamas also has rockets positioned to attack Israel and has transferred arms and munitions into the neighboring Sinai Peninsula, which at one time was under Egyptian military and police enforcement.

However, the Egyptians since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak have basically withdrawn most of their forces, opening the area as another position from which to launch attacks on Israel.

In the event that other efforts fail, it appears that Israel may be preparing to exercise the so-called military option of an actual attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, something it has threatened to do over the past few years.

The U.S. intelligence source said that some Israeli war preparations are being observed by the U.S. European Command.

“They’re (Israelis) perfectly aware of our birds and are either playing the (imagery) analysts or doing stuff out of sight,” the intelligence source said, adding that the Israelis are moving “a lot of munitions” of an unspecified nature, based on what overhead monitoring U.S. imagery analysts are able to acquire.

“Our buddies (Israelis) were waiting to do it until they knew our birds didn’t have a particularly good view around and loading them up on a bunch of long-range F-15s,” even though U.S. analysts cannot say with certainty now that it is in preparation for an imminent airstrike.

Also of interest:

How Israel's National Security Deals With Continuing Terror