Thursday, October 14, 2010

Iranistan; The Coming Shiite Crescent

By Bill Salus

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s October 11, 2010 pre-condition for Mideast peace may be the shot in the arm Iran needed to accelerate its move to form a Shiite Crescent inside the Fertile Crescent. (i) Netanyahu proclaimed that in order to extend the moratorium settlement freeze on building in the West Bank, the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Mideast peace talks subsequently and predictably dissolved shortly after this freeze expired September 26, 2010.

Additionally, Netanyahu’s proclamation followed one day after the Israeli cabinet passed the controversial “loyalty oath” bill. If this bill passes into law it requires new Israeli citizens, Jew and non-Jew, to pledge allegiance to a “Jewish and democratic” state.

The call for recognition as a Jewish state and loyalty oath hit at the heart of the Palestinian predicament. The Palestinians are a displaced population of renegade refugees. Much like the Kurds scattered in adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey the Palestinians remain stateless and scattered in the Gaza, West Bank and border lying areas of Israel. The Palestinian refugee crisis resulted from the failure of the defeated Arab states surrounding Israel to resettle the Arabs of Palestine back into their ancestral Arab homelands after Israel won the "War of Independence" in 1948.

Rather than “Resettlement”, “Right of Return” is the favored policy of the Arab supporters of the Palestinian refugees. The Arab states cringe at the hint of resettlement. Jeremiah 12:14-17 foretold they would be uprooted in order to be resettled; however, the Arab states vehemently oppose this.

Seldom has the resettlement topic ever arisen in diplomatic peace talks. The talks always propose the right of the Palestinian refugees to return into Israel. If Israel becomes the bonafide Jewish state and all new citizens forced to pledge allegiance to it, Palestinian refugees will be forced to resettle into the Arab states that generally reject them.

Presently, peace talks have hit a stalemate opening a window of opportunity for Iran to make its move on the Middle East. It is commonly understood in the region that the present Iranian regime seeks the formation of a Shiite Crescent starting with Lebanon and Syria that subsequently moves deeper into the Sunni Arab states of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iran has been building inseparable relations with Hezbollah and Syria and developing a nuclear program that should facilitate the Crescent’s formation in the foreseeable future.

Iran’s plans to subjugate Lebanon seem imminent at this point and likely include a Hezbollah backed revolution if necessary. Having seized power in Iran through revolution in 1979, the present Iranian regime is adept at accomplishing the same in Lebanon.

However, instead of exercising proven revolutionary tactics in Lebanon, Iran could incite its proxy, Hezbollah, to instigate violence against Israel. By provoking Israel to attack Lebanon seemingly as an aggressor, the Lebanese are expected to rally around Hezbollah for protection. Lebanon is a proven battleground having been plagued with wars throughout modern history.

Making matters worse for Israel, Hezbollah has the backing of Iran, Syria and the Hamas should another conflict occur. Iran has feverishly worked with Syria to arm Hezbollah with skillfully trained troops and 60,000 rockets over the past four years. In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah lobbed 4,000 rockets into northern Israel averaging 117 strikes per day. Presently, Hezbollah has 15 times as many more advanced rockets and arrogantly boasts it can hit any target inside of Israel including Dimona Israel’s main nuclear site.

In its bid to revive the ancient Persian Empire, Iran could achieve the killing of three birds with one stone in a coming conflict: the destruction of Israel, the establishment of a Palestinian State in its place and the allegiance of Lebanon to Iran. Iran seeks a Palestinian State in their Shiite pocket. Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s continued threats to wipe Israel off the map hint of a greater plan to control Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest city, by establishing a Palestinian proxy state to replace Israel.

“We do not believe in multiple Islamic republics; we do believe, however, in a single Islamic world governed by a central government.” .......“Jerusalem and Palestine will not be regained with political games but with guns.” ....... "Hezbollah can destroy one-half of Israel's army."
Quotes in recent years from Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah

Considering Palestinians comprise 65% of the Jordanian population, Jordan could easily become Iran’s subsequent target should Hezbollah be victorious over Israel. At this point let me emphasize there is no biblical reason to believe, nor do I believe, that Hezbollah would win over Israel, however the point being made is this is likely the logical thinking of the present Iranian regime.

Furthermore, Jordanian King Abdullah II has expressed his concern about this Shiite crescent possibility on numerous occasions. Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and possibly Iraq falling like dominoes into Iran’s grand Shiite scheme puts Saudi Arabia and the other smaller OPEC Arab nations of Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in a precarious position. OPEC presently provides one-third of the world’s oil supply and Saudi Arabia is ranked number #1 within OPEC.

This makes Saudi Arabia a prime down the road target on Iran’s hit list. Saudi King Abdullah is extremely concerned about the prospects of Iran taking over the Middle East. In addition to its oil surplus Saudi Arabia hosts Islam’s two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina. If Iran first controls Jerusalem through a proxy Palestine and subsequently captures Mecca and Medina, it can possess the oil and tourism wealth of the Middle East and promote Shiite theology on a wider scale within Islam.

Seemingly, for this reason Saudi Arabia has temporarily allowed Israel a strip of airspace to pre-empt a strategic strike against Iranian nuclear sites, and contracted to purchase 60 billion dollars worth of advanced American aircraft.

It appears as though Iran wants to turn Isralestine(ii) into Palestine and the greater Mideast into a region called Iranistan. (iii) According to Bible prophecies contained in Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38 & 39, and Jeremiah 49:34-39 this doesn’t find fulfillment, however, the breakdown of Mideast peace talks primes the pump for an Iranian attempt to revive the Persian Empire.
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(i) The Fertile Crescent is a geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn accessed 10/13/10
(ii) A book authored by Bill Salus available at www.prophecydepot.com
(iii) A neologism intended to describe a fictitious Iran controlling the greater Middle East. It is used only for the purposes of this article.