Saudi Arabia was the fifth-biggest military spender globally in 2023: It spent 7.1 percent of its gross domestic product, $75.8 billion, on its military, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported in April. The 4.3 percent increase compared to the previous year was partly financed by increased demand for non-Russian oil and rising oil prices.

Expect Saudi Arabia’s military and economic rise to continue in cooperation with Germany. But some hurdles are on the horizon.

Saudi Arabia’s grand economic and social development plan, Vision 2030, is meant to prepare the country for the future—a world where either it runs out of oil or people aren’t buying it. The largest exporter of oil now invests heavily in renewable energy, new technologies and its tourism sector.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure German energy security. At the time, Scholz noted that Germany was mostly interested in Saudi Arabia’s investments in hydrogen as an alternative energy source.

But Germany is still interested in oil. The website of the German Economics Ministry notes that Saudi Arabia can “compensate for seasonal peaks in demand or temporary shortfalls by other oil producers.” This means that even though Germany doesn’t rely on Middle East oil, it sees Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries as partners in crisis.

The recent energy crisis made that clear. The Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported: “As a result of the war in Ukraine, the Arab countries are proving to be saviors in times of need—and the winners of the reorientation of European energy policy. However … it is not renewable energies and hydrogen that are deepening cooperation, but the tried and tested energy sources of oil and gas.”

That is no doubt also one of the reasons why Germany supports Saudi Arabia’s military rise. Saudi Arabia was one of the most important destinations for German weapons until the German government banned arms sales to all countries involved in the Yemeni civil war and the Saudi government murdered journalist Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi in 2018. Following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, Germany lifted this weapons ban, citing Saudi Arabia’s good relations with Israel.

But even during the arms embargo, German expertise helped Saudi Arabia build its own military industrial complex. For example, Andreas Schwer, former board member in the armaments division of the Düsseldorf Rheinmetall Group, served as the ceo of Saudi Arabian Military Industries from 2017 to 2020.

This cooperation prepares Saudi Arabia and Germany to face a common threat in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia’s economic plans are threatened by a belligerent Iran and its terrorist proxies. Hamas’s war against Israel and the Iran-backed terrorist attacks in the Red Sea threaten Saudi Arabia’s oil exports, economic prosperity and tourist industry. The terrorists are also threatening Germany’s prosperity: European-Asian trade had to be rerouted around Africa, which prompted the European Union to send warships to protect the trade route.

In the past year, Saudi Arabia has tried to create peaceful relations with Iran. But it cannot live with constant war and terror in the region; neither can the rest of the world. The Middle East accounts for roughly a third of global oil production. A crisis in the region causes global energy prices to soar, and with them the cost of virtually everything else.

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

Today, world powers are again heavily involved in advancing their interests in the [Middle East]. They fear what will happen if the oil stops pumping and the tanker ships stop moving. A disruption in energy exports from the Middle East would start major chain reactions around the globe, upsetting situations inside of nations and relationships between nations.

The possibility of war breaking out in the Middle East over oil was a much-discussed topic in the Worldwide Church of God under the late Herbert W. Armstrong. The Aug. 2, 1982, Worldwide News stated: “This provocation—likely to be a threat to cut Europe’s energy lines—will bring European military forces rushing ‘like a whirlwind’ into the Middle East.”

This is a reference to Daniel 11:40 that speaks of clash between two world powers: one led by Iran and one led by Germany.

As Mr. Flurry showed in “Watch Germany’s ‘Alliance Against Iran,’” events are building toward the fulfillment of this key prophecy. His article also notes that Saudi Arabia will join Germany’s alliance as prophesied in Psalm 83.

Saudi Arabia’s increased militarization and alliance with Germany, the war over oil in the Middle East, and Iran’s increased aggression are all signs that the fulfillment of this prophecy is near.