Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen spoke with Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on April 17. Qin offered China as mediator between Israel and the Palestinians in a peace accord. According to Chinese state media, China “hopes that Israel and Palestine can coexist peacefully and safeguard regional peace and stability.”

China mediated a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia last month. It appears the Chinese are “riding a diplomatic tide” and trying to find a way into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Israel does want China to play a greater role in Middle Eastern affairs—but in a very different theater.

A nuclear deal—with Israel’s blessing? Cohen spoke with Qin about China becoming more involved in Iranian nuclear affairs.

I spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang about the danger we see in Iran’s nuclear program, a danger shared by many countries in the region, including countries with diplomatic relations with Iran. The international community must act immediately to prevent the regime of the ayatollahs in Tehran from achieving nuclear capabilities. The State of Israel will act in every way to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capability. Iran is a center of instability and its regional activity harms the entire Middle East. Wherever Iran is, it brings violence, terror, poverty and misery.
—Eli Cohen

An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said Cohen asked Qin “to exert his influence on Iran and halt progress in Iran’s nuclear program.”

The Telegraph meanwhile cited an anonymous source “familiar with [Israel’s] strategy on Iran,” who claimed “if China brokered a symbolic deal with Iran—such as a commitment to freezing the program at the current threshold—then this could be sold as a diplomatic win by all three countries.”

China is one of Iran’s closer allies. But China is also an opportunistic country looking to boost its international credentials. The Chinese have a lot of economic leverage over Iran. Israel may think China could pull a few strings to get Iran to cut back on its nuclear program.

Brotherhood broken? The main Western power pushing for nuclear negotiations is the United States. Israel has traditionally relied on the U.S. for protection. The U.S. has supported a (very flawed) Iranian nuclear deal for over two years, leading Israel to turn to powers such as China to intervene. How the Chinese responded to Cohen’s comments is unknown at this point. But it’s a harbinger of decreasing U.S. influence in the region—even among allies.

Prophecy says: Daniel 11:40 describes chaotic events to hit the Middle East at “the time of the end”—just before the return of Jesus Christ. Two main power blocs are described: a “king of the north,” which is a united European power, and a “king of the south,” which is an Islamist faction led by Iran. Daniel shows Europe will wipe out the threat of radical Islam and then “enter into the glorious land”—the State of Israel today. Verse 44 refers to troubling “tidings out of the east and out of the north,” meaning China and Russia.

Israel, Iran and China are all very active in the Middle East right now. But there is an ominous omission in the Daniel 11 prophecy: America, previously an oversized influence in the region, is nowhere to be found.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in The King of the South:

The prophecies we have studied in this booklet point to a time when the United States is no longer a major player in the Middle East. Once America is gone, this king of the south will set its sights on another target: the king of the north. … Think seriously about the fact that this [coming war] will not occur at the hands of America or Britain. These nations aren’t even involved in this prophesied war! That is because they are going to fall into social and economic ruin before this prophecy is even fulfilled! The time when Britain and America were superpowers, or kings, is history.

To learn more, request a free copy of The King of the South.