The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Seth J. Frantzman (October 14, 2024)
Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi tours region, seeking alliances against Israel, focusing on Gaza conflict, and discussing ties with Iraq, Oman.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been on a regional tour, on a mission to improve Iran’s ties with Saudi Arabia, and cement ties with Iraq, Oman, and Qatar – all with the goal of ensuring Israel’s isolation. This extends to Iranian officials visiting Lebanon and Syria and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin; Iran is trying to put together a regional and global alliance against Israel.
On Sunday, Araghchi met Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Iraq. Their discussion extended beyond just Iran-Iraq relations to focus on Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza. His trip came on the backdrop of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq seeking to attack Israel with drones.
He then went to Oman, a state that recently conducted joint military drills with Iran. Iranian media stated that Araghchi discussed Israel’s “genocidal war in the Gaza Strip.” He met Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al Busaidi as Iran “embarked on intensive talks with regional nations in a bid to hold the Israeli regime accountable for the ongoing war in Gaza,” Iranian state media IRNA noted.
In Oman, the Iranian envoy also met with Mohammad Abdul Salam, a spokesperson and negotiator for the Houthis, which controls parts of Yemen and is backed by Iran.
Iran urges regional allies to unite
Araghchi “exchanged views about the alarming situation in the region and urged an immediate end to the Israeli regime’s genocide and aggression in Gaza and Lebanon,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said. Araghchi also said that “indirect talks between Iran and the United States mediated by Oman have been suspended because of the situation in the region. Currently, the Muscat process is on hold due to specific regional circumstances, and we do not see ground for these discussions until we can overcome the ongoing crisis,” according to IRNA.
Iran is very open about how it is seeking to “mobilize” regional countries against Israel. As Jerusalem focuses on wars on multiple fronts, Iran pushes diplomacy with one hand and backs the fronts with the other.
“We presented a general assessment of the previous two regional trips investigated the special and dangerous situation in the region caused by the Zionists’ military adventure, the war crimes against Lebanon, and the genocide against the residents of Gaza,” Araghchi said about his trip to Iraq. Tehran hopes that Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Lebanon, Syria, and Russia will all back its attempt to isolate Israel. †
Fourth Kingdom ~ Islam ~ Israel
One of the initial signs of the times I'm watching for is an alliance of 10 nations in the Middle East. Daniel 7 speaks of four beasts representing kingdoms in the end times that are diverse from each other yet are contemporaneous with each other. The animals associated with three of the diverse kingdoms, the lion, bear, and leopard, are later seen united with the fourth beast in John's vision of the kingdom of the false christ.
In this I believe Daniel's vision gives a glimpse to a future geopolitical situation where the effective power in the earth is divided into four kingdoms. Three of these are likely some sort of global governance agreement like BRICS or NATO that effectively consolidates power of nation states on the global stage via binding treaties. The fourth kingdom is central to Bible prophecy and is centered in the Middle East where we see the 10 horns, or kings of kingdoms, who will give their power to the little horn that comes up amongst them. Three of those ten horns are plucked and fall before the little horn, meaning he is not little in terms of power, but in the size of his kingdom in comparison to the ten.
While I can't say this is the beginning of such an Islamic alliance, I could see a larger alignment with the Islamic nations in the region focused on stopping Israel from further gains in the war that Iran and its proxies started, a kind of respite from the losses they are taking. Perhaps Israel's declared future attack on Iran will spur a larger cooperation in the Middle East in the interest of stopping the current war and not in destroying Israel.
While it seems impossible to think of Iran and the antagonistic Muslim nations surrounding Israel agreeing to peace at this time, the Bible says that God puts it in the hearts of these ten to give their power over to the little horn until His will is accomplished. Even so, when Israel returns to the Mosaic Covenant as a nation and begins building the third temple, we will likely the animosity come back in force after this false peace and three nations will attack Israel. We know from Daniel 11:40-45 that Egypt is explicitly mentioned along with a nation to the North and East. Given Isaiah 17 and the destruction of Damascus, my guess would be that the three kingdoms would be Egypt, Syria, and Iran.
Time will tell if this is the beginning of that, but I feel it's important enough to bring it up.
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