Daily Headlines: Iran's Growing Influence In The Middle East

As we watch the various events in the Middle East, one fact is abundantly clear and that fact is that Iran - who is determined to oversee Israel's destruction - is having more and more influence in the region on a daily basis. This idea lends credibility to the possibility that the Isaiah 17 scenario is actually a proxy war launched by Iran, using their proxies such as Hizbollah (Lebanon), Hamas (Gaza), Egypt (where Iran's influence is already taking place) and Syria, regardless of the outcome of their civil war. Today's news underscores Iran's growing influence in the region. At the same time, we see the growing power of Russia in the region. Clearly, the Gog-MaGog coalition is on the move:

Kahlili: Iran Admits Giving WMDs To Terrorists

Israel will be obliterated by chemical, microbial and nuclear bombs, Iranis warning, but those weapons of mass destruction will be used first on Tel Aviv by Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad at the start of a decades-old Muslim dream of destroying the Jewish state.

An alarming commentary last week in Mashregh, the media outlet ofIran’s Revolutionary Guards, confirmed that the Islamic regime not only has WMDs but has armed its terrorist proxies with them. Mashregh speaks for the regime.

It warned Israel that if the fighting in Syria does not stop, an all-out attack on the Jewish state will be launched and that at zero hour, Tel Aviv will be the first city to be destroyed.

“The threat to retaliate against Israel with weapons of mass destruction is credible,” said Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, who previously served on theHouse Armed Services Committee and with the CIA. “A highly credible source in 2005 warned that a decision had been made at the highest level of the Iranian government to arm numerous ballistic missiles with chemical and biological warheads to retaliate against Israel if Iran’s vital interests were endangered. The fall of [Syrian President Bashar] Assadwould constitute endangerment of Iran’s vital interest

A strategic look at the situation in Syria, it said, shows that in order to safeguard Damascus and Bashar Assad’s regime, it is necessary to destroy “the center responsible for these destructions, which will force the enemy to retreat.” To that end, Iran will break “the security of Israelby targeting Tel Aviv.”

Should Israel and its allies succeed in unraveling Syria so the legitimateAssad regime loses control, the commentary said, there are but two scenarios:

“Groups armed with weapons of mass destruction (chemical, microbial and nuclear bombs), which have been obtained on the black market, will surely target Tel Aviv.

Ex-CIA Analyst Tells Us The Real Reason Israel Wants To Strike Iran Before The U.S. Election

For months senior Israeli officials have said the "window of opportunity" for attacking Iran's nuclear facilities is "before the U.S. presidential election in November" because Iran's nuclear facilities will soon be in fortified underground bunkers out of the reach of Israeli bombs.

McGovern believes that Israel's primary goal is to "have Iran bloodied the same way we did to Iraq" so that Iran "would no longer be able to support Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere."

And the reason Nov. 6 is an important date, McGovern wrote in a recent article, is that "a second-term Obama would feel much freer not to commit U.S. forces on Israel’s side" and "might use U.S. leverage to force Israeli concessions on thorny issues relating to Palestine."

A potential loss of leverage after Nov. 6 would explain the current drumbeat of war being played by Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Iran Is Building, Training Militia In Syria, Pentagon Says

Iran is playing a growing role supporting the Syrian regime and is helping to build and train a militia to fight opposition forces, US defense officials said Tuesday.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that the militia, which is generally made up of Syrian Shia forces, is being used to take the pressure off the Syrian regime forces, which have been at war for almost 18 months.

Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta voiced concerns about Iran’s growing presence in Syria, even as President Bashar Assad’s regime steps up its aerial attacks against the rebel forces. Fierce fighting and attacks from warplanes and helicopter gunships have pushed the opposition forces back in key fronts, such as Aleppo.

Russia Begins To Rebuild Soviet Era Bases

The Russian government intends to restore the military-technical support of their ships at the former military base in Cam Ranh (Vietnam), Lourdes (Cuba) and the Seychelles…

The intentions were announced on July 27 by the Russian Navy Commander Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov. “At the international level, the creation of logistics points in Cuba, the Seychelles and Vietnam is being worked out,” Chirkov was quoted by the media.

“We will give Russia the benefits in Cam Ranh, including the development of military cooperation,” the President of Vietnam told the media. Cuba that has an American military base in Guantanamo Bay and is protesting against the deployment of new U.S. bases in Colombia, of course, wants to acquire an ally in Russia to be able to contain the United States.

As for the influence, judging by the words of the Russian President, Russia is also actively growing in this regard, although work in this direction has only begun. As we can see, Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans are involved. This is due not only to geopolitical reasons, but the growing economic presence of Russia in the regions. For example, “Gazprom” is actively working on offshore Vietnam. In the Caribbean, it also participates in the construction of Meso-American pipeline and field development in Venezuela. An ammunition plant is under construction in Cuba.

Russian Attack Submarine In Gulf Of Mexico Undetected For Weeks

A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

It is only the second time since 2009 that a Russian attack submarine has patrolled so close to U.S. shores.

The stealth underwater incursion in the Gulf took place at the same time Russian strategic bombers made incursions into restricted U.S. airspace near Alaska and California in June and July, and highlights a growing military assertiveness by Moscow.

The submarine patrol also exposed what U.S. officials said were deficiencies in U.S. anti-submarine warfare capabilities—forces that are facing cuts under the Obama administration’s plan to reduce defense spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years.

The Navy is in charge of detecting submarines, especially those that sail near U.S. nuclear missile submarines, and uses undersea sensors and satellites to locate and track them.

The fact that the Akula was not detected in the Gulf is cause for concern, U.S. officials said.

One official said the Akula operated without being detected for a month.

“The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews,” said a second U.S. official.

“It’s a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place,” the official said, referring to the Navy nickname for strategic missile submarines.

“Sending a nuclear-propelled submarine into the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean region is another manifestation of President Putin demonstrating that Russia is still a player on the world’s political-military stage,” said naval analyst and submarine warfare specialist Norman Polmar.

Below we see updates on the EU and their ongoing 'crisis':

Eurozone Crisis Spooks U.S. Election

What does Greece have to do with the next US president? Or the current debate about a "political and fiscal union" in Europe?

Readers tempted to shrug shoulders and say "not much" would be ill-advised. The main topic in the US campaign ahead of the 6 November presidential elections is the economy. And Europe has become the bogeyman for the Republican camp.

Bruce Stokes from Pew Research Centre, a US-based pollster, told this website that the euro crisis is the "single most important issue that could cost Obama the elections."

He said US citizens surveyed are in general very little informed about the euro crisis and that if news suddenly broke that markets are in meltdown and exports are no longer flowing to Europe, they would "not know where this comes from and blame it on Obama. He's the one in the driving seat."

"While offering advice to increase deficit spending in the eurozone, President Obama presides over unprecedented peacetime deficits in the United States, where a debate over 'growth' versus 'austerity' policies also rages," he noted, even though much of current US debt was in fact accumulated prior to the Obama administration, during former president George W. Bush's "war on terror."

Eurozone Slides Deeper Into Recession

Grexit Or Brexit - Is Britain Going To Leave The EU?