The Iranian president says a power vacuum is about to appear in the Middle East, and when it does his nation will be ready to fill it.

“Of course we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation,” said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday.

During a press conference in Tehran, Ahmadinejad spoke about Iran’s nuclear weapons program, how Iran expects to be treated by the rest of the world, and the United States’ position in the Middle East. “Today Iran is a nuclear Iran, meaning that it has the complete cycle for fuel production,” he said, reiterating progress Iran had made toward its goal of becoming a nuclear power.

Regarding America’s power in the region, he said, “The political power of the occupiers [of Iraq] is being destroyed rapidly and very soon we will be witnessing a great power vacuum in the region.”

Events demonstrate that such words are not mere bluster. Because of the religious alignment between Iran and many prominent Iraqi leaders, not to mention the majority of Iraqis, who, like those in Iran, are Shiite Muslims, Iran has enormous political leverage in the area. So much, in fact, that the U.S. has resorted to negotiating with Tehran—a nation which the Bush administration famously referred to as a member of an “axis of evil” just a few years ago—over the future of Iraq.

Ahmadinejad’s statement reflects his nation’s longstanding ambition to become the dominant power in the Middle East. Many of the surrounding nations, however, most of which are Sunni, distrust the Shiite state.

Iran’s boldness, both with its nuclear program and clear ambition to dominate Iraq, is a reflection of its broader ambitions and its pushy foreign policy. The Trumpet has warned for over a decade that Shiite Iran is the king of radical Islam and that it will move to ultimately dominate Iraq and the Middle East. This is precisely what is now occurring. Iran is putting the Middle East, and ultimately the whole world, on a rocky path toward conflict. To learn the outcome of these events, read The King of the South.