WHY THE TRUMPET WATCHES
Iran’s Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons
WHY THE TRUMPET WATCHES
Iran’s Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons
The world can change in 400 seconds. In about the time of a long television commercial break, a Fattah-1 ballistic missile can launch from Iranian soil and reach a target in Israel. It would take even less time to reach the United States’ Middle East nuclear arsenal in Turkey at Incirlik Air Base. When those missiles detonate, the explosions could be nuclear.
Iran’s radical Islamist theocracy is based on perpetual jihad against the West. Its mullahs call the United States the “great Satan” and Israel the “little Satan.” Iran possesses not only the largest and one of the most advanced ballistic missile arsenals in the Middle East but also the most advanced nuclear enrichment program of any non-nuclear weapons state. And with every passing day, the program advances further.
When Iran can back up its threats and its terrorism with nuclear potential, the strategic situation for the entire world will change.
Revolutionary Beginnings
Iran’s nuclear weapons program began under Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran and an American ally. A nuclear Iran would help deter the Soviet Union. But when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamists swept into power in 1979, the U.S. became the enemy.
Iran immediately plunged into a long, brutal defensive war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. In April 1984, Iran announced the reactivation of its nuclear program. President Ali Khamenei called it the “only way to secure the very essence of the Islamic Revolution from the schemes of its enemies, especially the United States and Israel, and prepare it for the emergence of Imam Mahdi.” In the decades since, Iran has continually invested in nuclear development.
Iran’s regime enforces the variant of Islam known as Twelver Shiism. It holds that the founder of Islam, the prophet Mohammed, would have 12 successors, or imams. Mohammed al-Mahdi was the 12th, but he disappeared around a.d. 878. According to tradition, he was “hidden” by Allah. Twelver legend claims the “12th imam” will return at the “end of time,” during an epoch of great chaos. He will defeat the enemies of Islam, start the rule of Allah on Earth, and herald the return of Jesus.
Led by the supreme leader, Iran’s regime considers itself the representative of the 12th imam until he returns. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–2013) and other leaders believe it is therefore Iran’s duty to sow global chaos to hasten the emergence of the Imam Mahdi. Nothing can sow chaos like ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.
The Pivotal Year
Jan. 16, 2016, was “Implementation Day” for a now-infamous agreement between Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (jcpoa). Iran agreed to discard its stocks of 60 percent-enriched uranium, dismantle its centrifuges, discontinue its intercontinental ballistic missile program, and cooperate more with the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency. The regime agreed “that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” In exchange, Iran received tens of billions of dollars in frozen assets and freedom from international commerce sanctions.
The trouble is, this deal actually helped Iran advance its nuclear weapons development.
Most of the jcpoa’s main provisions had expiration dates. Iran’s limitation on nuclear enrichment and construction of centrifuges was set to expire in 2025. Limits on what levels it could enrich to, as well as how much enriched uranium it could store, were to expire in 2030. The Institute for Science and International Security discovered that Iran was even permitted to keep a secret amount of enriched uranium.
Iran was obligated to wait eight years after Implementation Day to accelerate its intercontinental ballistic missile program. It waited two days. U.S. President Barack Obama, inexplicably desperate to keep the deal alive, looked the other way.
Meanwhile, Iran obtained billions of dollars’ worth of sanctions relief. This strengthened its position to comply with some parts of the deal, to bide its time on others, and to outright defy it at will.
The fact that the nuclear deal did nothing to address Iran’s funding of proxy terrorist groups meant that Iran was empowered to advance its aggressive foreign policy in a way it could never have done without Obama’s jcpoa. Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthi movement, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces and, to a lesser extent, al Qaeda and the Taliban all became more potent, not less. The Taliban took over Afghanistan, Hamas massacred Israelis, the Houthis threaten Red Sea shipping, and other radical Islamist powers have been able to flourish.
Blast Off
Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, recognized that the jcpoa empowered a mortal enemy and withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018. He reimposed the pre-Obama sanctions as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign. Iran responded by dropping all pretense and pressing ahead with its nuclear program.
The iaea estimates that Iran has accumulated 260 pounds of 60 percent-enriched uranium, which has no known civilian application. Some estimate that Iran has enough uranium to construct three nuclear warheads.
State media on Feb. 24, 2023, confirmed rumors that Iran had produced uranium at roughly 84 percent purity. Four days later, the iaea also confirmed it. It appeared to be only trace amounts, but it demonstrated Iran’s capacity to turn 60 percent-enriched material to weapons-grade material.
Other Middle East nations, especially the Gulf Arab states, are terrified of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Saudi Arabia possesses the largest Arab economy, and two of Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. It is the leader among moderate Arab states and Iran’s biggest rival for dominance over the Muslim world. Iran and Saudi Arabia have already fought proxy wars with each other in Yemen and Syria. The Saudis have worked with the United States and have even provided military assistance to Israel in its war with Iran’s proxies. Saudi Arabia knows better than most countries what it is like to live next to Iran and the threat it poses.
Immediately before Hamas massacred Israelis en masse on Oct. 7, 2023, Saudi Arabia was reportedly in negotiations to open diplomatic relations with Israel. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wasn’t looking for major concessions from Israel. Instead, he was receiving defense guarantees from the U.S., including assistance in developing its own nuclear program. When the U.S. hesitated, the crown prince asked China for help. The Saudis, like the Iranians, claim that the nuclear program will be for civilian purposes.
When October 7 sparked another war between Hamas and Israel, and brought the Palestinian conflict back into global prominence, the Saudis were forced to pause diplomatic relations with Israel so as not to appear to abandon the Palestinians. But according to a January 9 bbc interview with Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom Prince Khalid bin Bandar, the deal is still on the table.
Saudi Arabia is making major moves and taking significant risks to develop a nuclear arsenal to counter Iran. The Saudis appear to believe Iran is very close to success.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran from 2013 to 2021, told Nasim tv in February that Iran has crossed “all the scientific and technological nuclear thresholds,” saying that the components for an Iranian nuclear weapon are ready and need only to be assembled.
If this is the case, why has Iran declined to assemble the weapon it has pursued for decades? Iran’s Shargh newspaper reported in April that nuclear talks have started again with America. According to Shargh, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani has been negotiating with the U.S. to resurrect the 2015 jcpoa. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian confirmed that talks have occurred. Apparently the Iranians think they might have even more to gain before holding the world at nuclear gunpoint.
Surely they are also waiting for the results of U.S. elections in November. Making a public nuclear test so close to the election could swing the vote in Donald Trump’s favor. Trump was no friend of Iran during his first presidential term, and postponing a nuclear test may actually be an attempt to influence American voters. If Trump does win, Khamenei could assemble the bomb and test it to prove to the world that it has entered a new era.
Whatever the case, Iran’s nuclear program is now no longer a question of if, but when.
The End of the World?
Iran, whose religious beliefs may encourage it to start a nuclear war, appears to be able to test or use its first nuclear bomb almost at will. Its missiles are ready, its neighbors are frightened, an arms race is underway, and Iran is fighting a proxy war against Israel, another nuclear power.
Will a nuclear World War iii erupt soon in the Middle East?
When discussing nuclear war, many people use terms like “apocalypse” and “Armageddon.” Whether they realize it or not, they are using biblical terminology. Yet few who use these terms look to see what the Bible actually says.
One biblical figure had a lot to say about what is happening now with Iran. That figure was Jesus Christ.
Right before His crucifixion, Jesus brought a handful of His disciples to the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem. His disciples asked, “[W]hat shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).
Jesus described cataclysmic conditions that would strike before He returned. This includes “wars and rumours of wars”—wars frightening enough to “trouble” people (verse 6). He added, “For there will be sore misery then, such as has never been, from the beginning of the world till now—no and never shall be. Had not those days been cut short, not a soul would be saved alive” (verses 21-22; Moffatt translation).
Human beings never had the capacity to kill every man, woman and child until the invention of weapons of mass destruction. The unprecedented times Jesus Christ was describing are the times we are living in now.
Another prophecy shows how this war will start. Daniel 12:1 describes “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” Both events in Daniel and Matthew are unprecedented and unparalleled. Both are speaking of the same crisis.
Daniel 11:40 tells us who fires the opening shots: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”
This is speaking of two power blocs clashing during an unprecedented era “such as never was”: the “time of the end.” A “king of the north” will clash with a “king of the south.” Biblical and secular history show this king of the north is a European power rising on the world today. (Request our free booklet History and Prophecy of the Middle East.) The other bloc, located to the south, has a provocative foreign policy toward the West. Verse 41 shows this war will be fought over the “glorious land,” meaning the Holy Land. Verses 42-43 describe a massive proxy empire in the Middle East and Africa.
Since the 1990s, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has identified the king of the south as a radical Islamist bloc led by Iran. His booklet The King of the South, free upon request, explains this prophecy in detail.
Bible prophecy shows that Iran will fire the opening shot of a coming nuclear war. And Iran’s current nuclear trajectory shows it may well do so with a nuclear blast of its own, and is almost ready to do so.
Mr. Flurry writes in Nuclear Armageddon Is ‘At the Door,’ Ayatollah Khamenei has “changed the nuclear equation in this world.”
Does the Bible then prophesy that Iran will dig the grave of humanity?
The Hope Beyond
Despite Iran’s crucial role in prophecy, the Bible also states it will not be the primary country to “pull the trigger.” The king of the north, or united Europe, is the main power to watch. It will come against Iran and its radical Islamic empire like a “whirlwind” (Daniel 11:40).
“Will this terrifying whirlwind be nuclear?” Mr. Flurry asks in The King of the South. “It certainly will be terrorizing! And it is about to explode in the Middle East.” Other prophecies show Europe will prevail and will then target other nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom. (Request your free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s The United States and Britain in Prophecy.)
Matthew 24:3 speaks of the “end of the world,” which would be more clearly rendered “end of the age.” What age? The entire age of human beings attempting to rule themselves. As bleak as these prophecies are, they directly lead to the best possible news for all mankind. They lead directly to what follows after the age of man.
Verse 22 concludes: “but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” The same Bible that accurately prophesied the rise of Iran states that mankind will not snuff itself out in a nuclear inferno. Why?
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (verse 30).
The conclusion to Iran’s nuclear program, aggression and the eruption of World War iii is the return of Jesus Christ. And Christ will come to assume His rightful authority to actively rule all nations. Human beings will have illustrated in the most horrifying way possible that they are horrendously incapable of ruling themselves.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
In other words, Iran’s nuclear program is actually a sign of Jesus Christ’s return!
“It is childish folly to think anybody but Christ could stop this nuclear madness,” Mr. Flurry writes in Nuclear Armageddon Is ‘At the Door.’ “So all this nuclear insanity is also a part of the sign of the Second Coming and the sign of the end of the age when Christ will save humanity from totally exterminating itself!”
The Bible is full of signs showing how we can know where we are on God’s prophetic timeline. By heeding their warning, we are promised God’s protection from the coming turmoil. And God promises amazing rewards in the Kingdom of God. But it is up to the individual to heed these prophecies and to act on them.
