War in the Middle East
Monday, September 22, 1980 – Iraq declared war on Iran. How does this relate to the mustering of nations for the Armageddon conflict at Israel?
Ezekiel 38:5 mentions Persia (Iran) as an ally of Gog (Russia). In past decades, however, Iran has been aligned with the Western powers. This changed with the deposition of the Shah in 1979. Since then Iran has been bitterly anti-American, but also anti-Russian. Certainly Russia’s atheism is contrary to the principles of Mr. Khomeini’s Mohameddan revolution.
Iraq, on the other hand, is supplied with Russian arms and has close ties with the Soviets.
The effect of the present war cannot be otherwise than to weaken Iran. This enhances Russia’s opportunity to exercise her influence and makes Iran more vulnerable to Soviet aggression. Will Iran be taken over by the Soviets, as in Afghanistan? Or will they remain independent, but through weakness lean more favorably to the Soviets than in the past, for appeasement sake? Any specific inference from the scriptures on this detail is not apparent to us. In any case Iran is irately anti- Israel. This in itself may be sufficient to align them with the attacking forces in the last battle.
The Strait of Hormuz is among the long disputed border territories which are the subject of the present struggle. As 40% of the free world’s oil supplies usually flow through this narrow outlet from the Persian Gulf, the western governments are gravely concerned. The United States recently proposed a council with her allies to lay contingency plans for retaining access to that region-with military force if required. For while America reportedly has a 2-year reserve of petroleum at present, most of her allies are not so well stocked. And even a slight shortage of oil on the open market could cause prices to soar, as suppliers barter among demanders for the highest price. At the very least this incident points to the vital importance of the sustained flow of Middle East oil. It is not difficult to see that measurable Soviet aggression in the Middle East could spark military countermeasures by Western nations. This is what we ultimately expect to occur when god descends “like a cloud the cover the land.” (Ezekiel 38:9)