When President Barack Obama spoke at Cairo University in Egypt on June 4, 2009, his speech, titled “A New Beginning,” was seen as his attempt to reach out to the Muslim world with a message of peace and cooperation.

This speech did give the Middle East a new beginning—but not in the way some would think.

Working hard to court Iran in particular, President Obama said, “No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons.”

Unsurprisingly, this proclamation quickly rippled throughout the region. It appeared to be a go-ahead for the Middle East to nuclearize.

In what has transpired since, it is clear this seismic shift in United States foreign policy has irresponsibly destabilized and set ablaze the Arab world.

Eighteen months after that watershed speech, in December 2010, the Arab Spring began. By February 2012, governments had toppled in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. Uprisings had occurred in Syria and Bahrain. Major protests had been held in Iraq, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and even Sudan. It seemed Muslim youth were in the mood for change, and, morally boosted by the U.S. administration, they brought about chaos and havoc upon themselves.

With a destabilized Middle East, the only real beneficiaries of the Arab Spring have been Iran and the Islamic State.

Is this what President Obama had in mind when he spoke of “new beginnings”?

Currently the P5+1 nations are working to regulate Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for ending debilitating economic sanctions. Yet whatever the negotiations yield on June 30 in Vienna, the nuclear arms race has begun.

In fact, 12 other Middle East nations have plans to develop nuclear energy, or have signed nuclear cooperation agreements. These nations started actively pursuing their nuclear goals after 2005, when it became known Iran had made advances in enriching uranium.

Iran’s drive for nuclear technology has been the primary catalyst for this nuclear arms race throughout the region. Yet most Arab nations believed America would never let Iran acquire the bomb. That changed in the Cairo speech of 2009. There President Obama gave Iran his implicit approval—notwithstanding how he has continually maintained he will not allow Iran to get the bomb.

Just months earlier, in April 2009, the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia expressed to the world, “If [the Iranians] get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons.”

Today, reports are emerging that Pakistan could be selling ready-made nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia. The house of Saud has an on-tap supply at their fingertips.

Smaller Gulf states are also feeling compelled to keep up with the regional heavyweights out of sheer fear.

At a Camp David conference on May 14, President Obama reassured the Gulf states that he would “deny Iran the ability to obtain a nuclear weapon.” His reassurances fell on deaf ears. The Gulf states are petrified of an aggressive Iran and now have firsthand experience in what this dangerous direction in U.S. policy has achieved back home. Regional security has been shattered.

As a result, the Middle East is starting to muscle up. In a time when nuclear reactors are being shunned by the West, Middle East countries—especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan—are planning to build them by the truckloads. The United Arab Emirates began building a reactor back in 2012 in Abu Dhabi and has plans for another.

The Arab world sees Iranian hegemony engulfing the region and will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. As a deterrent, they want their own nukes!

The arms race is on, and it’s a mad dash to the finish line to beat Iran.

Nearly six years since President Obama delivered the Cairo speech, the Middle East has indeed had a “new beginning”—a nuclearized one.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry forecast in June 2009 (“How President Obama’s Cairo Speech Will Shake the Nations”) precisely how that speech would affect our world: “President Obama’s speech is a great turning point in this world. It is going to play a major role in terrifying prophecies of your Bible being fulfilled. It is beginning because of the broken will of America. God is going to shake this world and start by shaking America, Britain and the Jewish nation for their sins!”

Can the current arms race in the Middle East be traced back to the Cairo speech? Was it a turning point? The facts speak for themselves. In spite of what America’s president says today, when the leader of the free world gives his seal of approval for Iran to acquire the bomb, that is a turning point!

Now the world’s most volatile hotspot is about to become a nuclear free-for-all with an approving nod from America’s commander in chief.

The fact is, President Obama has the means and power to shut down Iran’s nuclear program if he wanted to. He doesn’t want to because, he says, who are we to decide whether genocidal maniacs should have the bomb or not?

Has the world become a safer place as America retreats from the Middle East? Does the thought of a nuclearized Middle East make you shake? It should—and it will!

The world is still reeling from the fallout of the Arab Spring: Iran’s belligerent takeover of neighboring nations through proxies; its regional naval hegemony; the rise of the Islamic State; and now, the genesis of a nuclear arms race. President Obama’s policy has made the world far more dangerous.

A nuclear Iran is not just a danger to Israel, or even Sunni Arabs. Iran is a danger to the world at large. Biblical prophecies indicate events are about to grow far worse before they become better. The Middle East is about to explode!

Bible prophecy reveals that it will eventually be a stripped-down, German-led Europe comprised of 10 nations or kings that will act swiftly to defeat Iran and radical Islam (Daniel 11:40-43).

This clash of civilizations is soon to occur, and America’s foolish foreign policy decisions to allow the Middle East to nuclearize are leading to this event. The shaking of the nations has begun.

If we are prepared to listen to God, we will see how all these prophesied events will soon lead to the glorious return of Jesus Christ. This is the real new beginning the Middle East needs!