A “new axis of terror” has emerged, Israel’s United Nations envoy Dan Gillerman stated April 18, the day after a devastating suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv restaurant. The terror attack, killing nine Israelis and wounding dozens, was claimed by the Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad, which is funded and supported primarily by Iran.

The “axis of terror” taking shape in the Middle East, reported Nicholas Blanford of the Christian Science Monitor, is a loose anti-Western alliance that presents new obstacles for America’s ambitions in the region. “Centered on Iran, this alignment has hardened in recent months, analysts say, with Tehran shoring up old alliances and strengthening ties with countries (Syria and Iraq) and with groups (Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad) that share its hostility toward Israel and the U.S.” (April 20). Israel’s UN envoy described the collaboration of Iran, Syria and the Palestinian Hamas-led government as a “dark cloud … looming above our region.”

As the Trumpet has extensively written about, Iran is the driving force behind efforts to unite Arab nations and terror groups against the West. This fact, perhaps not evident to most when the Trumpet first wrote about it, is now obvious to anyone viewing the Middle East with an open mind. “The alliance that is emerging in this part of the world is a creation of Iran,” says Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst. “It wants to bolster its position by allying itself with countries or groups that can temporarily enhance its regional role and influence” (ibid.).

Recognizing the strengthening position of Iran—reflected by its military and nuclear advancements and its blatant belligerence toward the West—Syria, the Shiites in Iraq, the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and various Palestinian terrorist groups and the Palestinian Authority itself, are eager to reinforce their ties with Iran. Thus, all parties benefit: Iran’s position is strengthened even as the other members of this alliance reap the benefits of Iranian support.

The election of firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran last August gave new life to Syrian-Iranian relations. Emboldened by Iran, Syria began to stand up to the West. It is becoming even more confident now as international pressure on it lifts in response to fears it will provoke a collapse of the ruling regime and throw the country into chaos. “Almost everybody in Syria is praising [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad’s alliance with Iran as a very smart move,” said Moubayed.

Hezbollah, in turn, has benefited from the growing belligerence of its two benefactors, Iran and Syria. The Shiite organization has cemented its influence in Lebanon, both as a political force and a terrorist group. By more or less blackmailing the government, Hezbollah succeeded in legalizing its military wing even while being considered a legitimate political entity.

Ties between Palestinian terror groups and Iran are also being reinforced following Hamas’s victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in January. A week ago, Iran hosted a three-day conference supporting the new Palestinian government and Palestinian terrorist organizations. Tehran pledged $50 million to the Palestinian Authority to help make up the shortfall created by withdrawal of Western aid.

Of course, over the past couple years, Iran has also strengthened ties with Iraq, both overtly and covertly. Elections in December were dominated by Shiite parties with close ties to Iran. Moqtada al-Sadr, popular Iraqi political figure and head of the militant Mahdi Army, has pledged military support of Iran.

Clearly, in large part, it is the U.S.’s presence and action in the region that are catalyzing the formation of this Iran-led alliance against the West. America’s promotion of democracy in the region has brought populist terrorist groups and, in Iraq, Iran-friendly Shiites to the forefront of politics. Its ousting of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq—Tehran’s enemies to its east and west—opened the way for Iran’s rise to prominence in the region.

Tehran continues to reach out to its neighbors, with Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar stating April 11 that Iran is ready to sign nonaggression pacts with countries in the region and hold joint military exercises with them (Stratfor, April 11).

A Damascus summit in mid-January attended by the newly elected Ahmadinejad along with representatives of Hezbollah and a range of Palestinian terrorist organizations was seen as “an affirmation of the anti-Western axis” by analysts, according to Blanford. A Lebanon newspaper reported that the meeting between the Iranian and Syrian leaders amounted to “a joint warning to the world” that the alliance would become stronger.

This alliance encompasses more than diplomacy, rhetoric and vows of military support. In February, Iran and Syria concluded wide-ranging economic and trade agreements, including one to establish energy and transportation links between the two countries via Iraq. The Christian Science Monitor reported that Iran and Syria are looking to Asia as an economic partner to replace the West. Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and professor of history, stated: “Syria and Iran are thinking they can build Iraq into their northern tier, building gas and oil pipelines across the region.”

The formation of an axis of terror in the Middle East, led by Iran in defiance against the West, is a striking fulfillment of Bible prophecy. An article in our May Trumpet details how the ascension of Iran as the leader of the Islamic Middle East fulfills two major prophecies: 1) the rise of a “king of the south” as prophesied in Daniel 11:40; and 2) the breaking of America’s national will as prophesied in Leviticus 26:19 and demonstrated by its failure to stop Iran in its tracks.

Fueled by anti-Americanism across the Middle East and abetted by U.S. weakness, the Iran-led alliance will continue to strengthen. Although some of the Sunni Arab states in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are growing fearful of Iran’s increasing influence and strength in the region, particularly in relation to Iraq, Bible prophecy indicates that they will shortly either join with Iran or, in any case, will be in no position to thwart Iran. Specific countries that prophecy reveals will likely ally with the king of the south are Egypt and Algeria. Watch for Iran to continue to shore up its position in the Middle East while at the same time presenting a mounting threat to the West.