Insight: Iran

HT: Joe

This program was aired last night on Australian TV: you may find it of interest.

Iran Prepares for War

Unconfirmed rumors from a wellknown and respected mekubal in Israel that the Gog u'Magog war will occur on Purim [yes!] - I will hopefully be able to blog more details about this tomorrow, once I have more information. Meanwhile.... Iran prepares:

Tension is continuing to rise, Iranian state TV has shown pictures of what it says are recent military exercises in central Iran.
Iranian warships have entered the Mediterranean, stoking already soaring regional tensions. The Iranian navy's top admirial said the craft, thought to be a destroyer and its supply vessel, were on a mission of peace, but also that Iran wanted to showcase its naval power. Unconfirmed reports said the ships might be destined for Syria.
Fears that the country's nuclear programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons led to a decision by the EU to stop importing crude oil from Iran from July 1.
Tension is continuing to rise in the Middle East ahead of a planned inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency next week.

Iran and Syria at the End of Time - Torah Codes

from Rabbi M. Glazerson

US tells Iran ''Time is Running Out'' -

US Declares War on Iran




And then there's this:

[Reuters] - Belgium-based SWIFT, which provides banks with a system for moving funds around the world, bowed to international pressure on Friday and said it was ready to block Iranian banks from using its network to transfer money.

Expelling Iranian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication would shut down Tehran's main avenue to doing business with the rest of the world - an outcome the West believes is crucial to curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

SWIFT, which has never cut off a country before, has been closely following efforts in the United States and the European Union to develop new sanctions targeting Iran that would directly affect EU-based financial institutions.

Source and more: Reuters

Wake Up! An Almost Nuclear Iran!

by Yochonon Donn     [HT: Shawn]

Harav Moshe Wolfson, shlita, spoke Tuesday night in a rare mid-week assembly for his kehillah, Emunas Yisroel in Boro Park, asking bluntly why there is no greater uproar within the community over the potential for war over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “Why are we quiet? Where is the awakening? Why is everyone so apathetic?” asked Rav Wolfson, who is also mashgiach of Yeshivah Torah Vodaath. “Everyone is busy with narishkeiten, we don’t hear the alarm? We don’t know that we have to pierce the heavens for rachamim from the Ribbono Shel Olam?” 

Rav Wolfson told the packed beis medrash of nearly 1,000 people that the potential for a war encompassing Iran, Israel, Europe and the United States over the next few weeks is a real one, and Klal Yisrael must prepare itself spiritually. “Everyone knows that there is currently a growing danger from Iran – and it is a great error for whoever does not know this,” Rav Wolfson said. “Why should a Yid not know what is happening to [other] Yidden? Everyone must know what is happening in regard to other Yidden. Everyone must know what is happening in Eretz Yisrael.” 

Rav Wolfson began talking this past Shabbos about the dangers from the Iran crisis, when he stopped and said that it was not a subject to discuss on Shabbos. He said he would continue the topic during the week. The last time he called for a special asifah during the week to discuss current events was in 1991, prior to the Gulf War. 

Rav Wolfson started his address, which was carried live by Kol Halashon, with the famous Rambam, who writes that it is a mitzvah to daven during troubled times. “If you don’t daven,” the Rambam says, “then it is a cruelty, since it will get worse.” “The leader in Iran says clearly – he repeated it this week – that he wants to kill, Rachmana litzlan, every Yid in the world, just like Haman,” Rav Wolfson said. “If he will be successful, chas v’shalom, in getting the nuclear bomb – and experts says he will have it by the summer – it will be a great danger for Klal Yisrael.” 

“A good part of the world’s Jews live in Israel, and the government there says that they will attack Iran first, before they could get the nuclear bomb. If that happens, everyone knows that that will cause a world war.” Rav Wolfson said that he heard that Harav Yosef Rosenblum, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivah Shaarei Yosher, spoke recently about the crisis with Iran – he said that during this eis tzarah, “Hashem is judging us on every klal and on every prat.” 

Rav Wolfson quoted the Pesikta, who says that the year when Moshiach will come all nations will battle each other. The spark that will set it off, according to the Medrash, will be when the king of Paras – which is modern-day Iran – will threaten “Arabia,” presumably Saudi Arabia, such as is happening today. Arabia will go for an alliance with Edom – the culture of Edom is today’s Western world, Europe and United States. Paras will then destroy the world and the Yidden will be thrown into turmoil. Hashem will then say: “Do not fear, the time for your Geulah has come.” Rav Wolfson noted how eerily similar this Medrash is to what is occurring today. “We don’t have to be in a panic,” Rav Wolfson said, “Hashem will perform miracles for us. But efsher takeh. Maybe the time for the Geulah has arrived. We must prepare for the Geulah.” 

Rav Wolfson said that since the Holocaust, Hashem has performed great miracles for the Yidden. Eretz Yisrael, which today hosts most of the world’s Yidden and most of the Torah world, merited supernatural siyatta diShmaya during its wars. When the Palestinians shoot missiles from Gaza, they land mostly in empty areas and cause little damage. When then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein shot 39 Scud missiles during the Gulf War, only one Yid was killed – that man had previously received a klalah from the Chazon Ish. “This a hashgachah niflaah that is reserved only for Yidden who learn Torah, who keep the mitzvos and who will ultimately do teshuvah,” Rav Wolfson said. “Hashem wants to do nissim for us. Israel is surrounded by 300 million Arabs and we are still there; that means Hashem wants to do yeshuos. We must prepare for yeshuos.” 

But just like Eliyahu had to daven on Har Hacarmel even though Hashem had already promised to bring rain, Hashem still wants the tefillos of Klal Yisrael today, even though He had promised to bring yeshuos. In order to qualify for these miracles, Rav Wolfson said, we must strengthen in Torah, tefillah and chessed. He specifically suggested saying Tehillim 46 every day, adding that he is asking his own kehillah to have the kapitel printed out and stuck to the back of every siddur. During the Suez campaign in 1956, the Belzer Rebbe asked that people say that particular kapitel, since it is a segulah to prevent warfare. “Everyone has to be mispallel that Klal Yisrael should be saved from chevlei Moshiach, that he and his family should be saved,” he said. 

Rav Wolfson also spoke about kevias ittim for Torah, not interrupting even “if the cell phone rings.” “I heard from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, that when a Yid sits down to learn it should be like Shabbos,” Rav Wolfson said. “That is the only time that one is pattur from work.” “In a beis medrash it is Shabbos. … If someone interrupts his learning and he picks up the phone, he brings the marketplace, he brings the office into Shabbos. He is mechallel the Shabbos.” 

But above all, Rav Wolfson said, Yidden should keep in mind that we live in momentous times, and we should prepare for the upcoming era with emunah and bitachon. “In the next couple of weeks there will be news,” Rav Wolfson said, “and with the help of Hashem, it will be good news for Yidden.”

Source: Rabbi Eli Goldsmith

Israel Placing Ships in Position

WASHINGTON – Israel has dispatched a number of naval vessels – under cover – into the Arabian Sea, and they are moving into its northern regions, just off of Iran, a U.S. intelligence source has reported in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The Israeli vessels have been positioned at the mouth of the Gulf of Oman, which leads to the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to shut down that gateway to the Persian Gulf if further sanctions are imposed against its sale of oil and on its central bank.

Israel also has threatened a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities out of concern that it is using them to develop nuclear weapons. Indeed, Iran just announced that it has achieved significant breakthroughs on a number of fronts in its nuclear enrichment program.

Source: WND

Gog and Magog: The Strait of Hormuz

Received via email [Yosef Kaner] - free translation from the Hebrew 

Rav Yekutiel Fish posted an interesting quote from Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim from Luntschitz [who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries, more commonly known as the "Kli Yakar"] in his Kli Paz, indicating that the Milchemet [war of] Gog and Magog will be centered in an area he calls Hormuz...... 

In the sefer Kli Paz "The Vessel of Pure Gold" from the commentry Kli Yakar, who was a Rosh Rabbonim [head of the rabbis] in the land of Israel 400 years ago, ''that there will be a sacrifice in Basra'' [Isaiah 34] that should be in the war of Gog and Magog and that it should happen or occur in a place by Basra named Hormuz. And the Navi's words since the sacrifice to Hashem in Basra and the great slaughtering in the land of Edom and it will descend, animals with them and cattle with Abirim [the strong healthy bulls] since the day of vengeance is to G-d and the completion of years of fighting Zion.. And it says ''the animals will descend with them'' to tell you there are many kings in the remaining nations that will join with Edom to help him and the slaughtering to G-d in Basra - a country with a distance from Bavel - its name is Basra and it is next to Asher which is Assyria and Persia in between the boundary of the land of Edom - The Hormuz - and today it is under the rulership of Yishmael and blessed is the one who knows the truth of these things. However it will be there - the war in the end of days.

וְהֶרְאוּנִי דָּבָר מַבְהִיל בְּסֵפֶר 'כְּלִי פָּז' מִבַּעַל הַ'כְּלִי יָקָר' שֶׁהָיָה רֹאשׁ הָרַבָּנִים בְּאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי כְּאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה (ישעי' לד) שֶׁהַ"זֶבַח לַה' בְּבָצְרָה" שֶׁיִּהְיֶה בְּמִלְחֶמֶת גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג יִתְרַחֵשׁ בְּמָקוֹם עַל יַד בַּצְרָה שֶׁשְּׁמוֹ הוּרְמוּז. וְנָבִיא אֶת דְּבָרָיו "כִּי זֶבַח לַה' בְּבָצְרָה וְטֶבַח גָּדוֹל בְּאֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם, וְיָרְדוּ רְאֵמִים עִמָּם וּפָרִים עִם אַבִּירִים וְגוֹ', כִּי יוֹם נָקָם לַה' שְׁנַת שִׁלּוּמִים לְרִיב צִיּוֹן". וְאָמַר "וְיָרְדוּ רְאֵמִים עִמָּם וְכוּ'', לְהַגִּיד שֶׁהַרְבֵּה מְלָכִים מִשַּׁאר הָאֻמּוֹת יִתְחַבְּרוּ עִם אֱדוֹם לְעָזְרָם. "כִּי זֶבַח לַה' בְּבָצְרָה", מְדִינָה יֵשׁ רָחוֹק מִבָּבֶל שְׁמָהּ בָּצְרָה, וְהִיא בֵּין גְּבוּל אֲשׁוּר וּפָרַס וּבֵין גְּבוּל אֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם, הוּרְמוּז, וְהִיא הַיּוֹם תַּחַת מֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיִּשְׁמָעֵאלִים. וּבָרוּךְ הַיּוֹדֵעַ אֲמִתָּתָם שֶׁל דְּבָרִים, אוּלַי יִהְיֶה דֶּרֶךְ שָׁם הַמִּלְחָמָה בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים"

Israel embassies preparing for Iran strike?

Diplomats stationed in Israel request gas masks, prepare contingency plans in case of missile attacks; envoys fear that thousands of dual-citizenship Israelis will seek evacuation

Preparing for Iran strike? Foreign embassies in Israel have recently started to formulate contingency plans to evacuate their citizens from the Jewish State in case of a missile attack on Israel.

Senior officials in Jerusalem said that several diplomatic missions have shown great interest in preparing for various emergency situations, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

In the framework of the preparations for possible fallout in case of an Israeli strike on Iran, foreign diplomats stationed in Israel requested that the Foreign Ministry equip them and their family members with gas masks.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has provided foreign embassies in Israel with a list of public bomb shelters across the country, as well as an instructional pamphlet in English produced by the IDF Home Front Command.

Diplomatic officials deployed in Israel are particularly concerned about the possibility of a missile offensive on the Jewish State that would prompt thousands of Israeli citizens with foreign passports to seek evacuation from country.

A senior European diplomat said that in such case, the European Union does not have the means to undertake a massive evacuation operation within a short period of time.

Meanwhile, the Home Front Command is preparing to launch a two-day drill in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Wednesday. IDF forces, firefighters, police officers and Magen David Adom emergency services will be taking part in the exercise.

Source: Ynet News

Obama: New Sanctions on Iran

President Obama slapped new sanctions on Iran Monday, freezing all property of the Central Bank of Iran, other financial institutions, and the central government.

"These actions underscore the administration's resolve to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its failure to meet its international obligations," said a statement from the Treasury Department. "Iran now faces an unprecedented level of pressure due to intensified sanctions applied by the United States and complementary actions by many others around the world.

"The new E.O. issued today re-emphasizes this administration's message to the government of Iran -- it will face ever-increasing economic and diplomatic pressure until it addresses the international community's well-founded and well-documented concerns regarding the nature of its nuclear program."

More at: USA Today

Iran 5772 - Torah Codes

'Iran can destroy Israel in 9 minutes'

Iranian blogger urges Tehran to exploit West's inaction to 'wipe out Israel' by 2014; lays out strategy.

An Iranian blogger on Saturday urged Tehran not to delay an attack on Israel, claiming that the Islamic Republic could destroy the Jewish state in "less than nine minutes."

Alireza Forghani, a computer engineer, wrote in his essay that Tehran should exploit the West's dawdling over a strike on Iran to "wipe out Israel" by 2014 – that is, before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term runs out. The post was widely covered in the Iranian media on Saturday.

Source: Ynet News

Iran warns world of ''Coming Great Event''

Amid crippling sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, Iran is continuing to prepare itself for war against the West, and now is warning of a coming great event.

“In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated,” Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, is warning.

Khamenei, speaking to hundreds of youths from more than 70 countries attending a world conference on the Arab Spring just days ago, told a cheering crowd in Tehran that “Allah’s promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious.”

The countries represented included Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Palestine and Tunisia, all of which have been involved in the Arab Spring.

In his remarks, Khamenei advised the youths to remain vigilant, stating that the Islamic awakening in the region has delivered several blows to the enemies of Islam and that all Muslims, despite their own historical and social differences, remain united in opposing the “evil hegemony of the Zionists and the Americans.”

Khamenei then claimed the current century as the century of Islam and promised that human history is on the verge of a great event and that soon the world will realize the power of Allah.

Many clerics in Iran have stated that Khamenei is the deputy of the last Islamic messiah on earth and that obedience to him is necessary for the final glorification of Islam.

Khamenei has been heard to say that the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, is near and that specific actions need to be taken to protect the Islamic regime for upcoming events.

Mahdi, according to Shiite belief, will reappear at the time of Armageddon. Selected forces within the Revolutionary Guards and Basij reportedly have been trained under a task force called “Soldiers of Imam Mahdi” and they will bear the responsibility of security and protecting the regime against uprisings. Many in the Guards and Basij have been told that the 12th Imam is on earth, facilitated the victory of Hezbollah over Israel in the 2006 war and soon will announce publicly his presence after the needed environment is created.

Source and more at: WND.com

US, Israel in open rift over Iran: Big joint military drill cancelled

US-Israeli discord over action against Iran went into overdrive Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White House called off Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have ever staged, ready to go in spring, in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. He said the United States was hesitant over sanctions against Iran's central bank and oil for fear of a spike in oil prices.

The row between Washington and Jerusalem is now in the open, undoubtedly causing celebration in Tehran.

Nothing was said about the 9,000 US troops who landed in Israeli earlier this month for a lengthy stay. Neither was the forthcoming visit by Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, Thursday mentioned.

Source: Debka

Iranian war fears spark closure of Israel reactor

HT: Miguel

ISRAEL is preparing to shut its nuclear reactor at Dimona, where it makes nuclear weapons, because of the site's vulnerability in a war with Iran.

The decision, taken by the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and the country's civil defence authorities, follows a realisation that the facility could be vulnerable to a missile attack.

The Haaretz newspaper quoted officials last week as saying they had concluded the reactor was no longer impenetrable in the event of war.

Deactivating the reactor in the southern Negev desert would minimise the dangers of nuclear fallout in the area "should it be targeted by missiles from as far away as Iran".

The official explanation is that work on the reactor is conducted for research and does not need to be carried out around the clock.

According to defence sources, the shutdown at Dimona would begin before the launch of any Israeli or US assault on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Source: The Australian

Provocation #5

Iran threatens 150,000 missile response to Israeli Jerichos

Saber-rattling rhetoric in the Middle East is reaching new heights. Israel is reportedly deploying its long-range Jericho missiles around Jerusalem, while the Iranian defense minister threatened massive missile retaliation against Israel.

The threat to launch “150,000 or more” missiles was voiced by Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on Sunday as he was delivering a speech before army volunteers. Earlier Iranian officials threatened retaliation against both Israel and NATO, should an attack on Iran be carried out.

Meanwhile Israel is reportedly deploying its own missiles around Jerusalem and in the West Bank. The missiles carried into position by military tracks resemble the Jericho missiles, says Aaron Klein, head of the Jerusalem bureau for WorldNetDaily, citing several eyewitness accounts.

Source: RT News

Why Iran's Top Leaders Believe That the End of Days Has Come

By Joel C. Rosenberg

 
Why would Iran authorize a major terrorist operation on American soil? Skeptics say the much-discussed “foiled” Iranian plot makes no sense. We will know soon enough if the Feds have sufficient evidence related to this specific plot. But Iranian leaders may, in fact, have a motive to accelerate direct attacks on the U.S.: Shia Islamic eschatology, or "End Times" theology.

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are convinced that the End of Days has come. They believe the Shia messiah known as the “Twelfth Imam” or the “Mahdi” will appear soon to establish a global Islamic kingdom known as the caliphate.

What’s more, they believe the way to hasten the coming of the Twelfth Imam is to annihilate Israel (which they call the “Little Satan”), and the United States (which they call the “Great Satan”). We should not, therefore, be surprised that Iran is probing for weaknesses in American intelligence and homeland security.

Khamenei told Iranians in July 2010 that he personally met with the Twelfth Imam. He also claimed to be the personal representative of the Mahdi on earth, and said all Muslims must “obey him.” Meanwhile, Western intelligence agencies say he continues to work with Ahmadinejad and the Iranian military to develop nuclear warheads and the ballistic missiles to deliver them.

Much of the media has focused on Iran’s threats to wipe Israel “off the map.” But journalists have generally ignored the fact that the Iranian regime is equally determined to destroy the United States.

On October 26, 2005, for example, Ahmadinejad said, “God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism.”

On June 2, 2008, Ahmadinejad said, “Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come, and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started.”

Iran’s leaders actually believe that the destruction of the U.S. is foreordained, just as the Soviet Union’s implosion was predetermined. They see U.S. economic weakness as a sign that the end of America is near.

Other signs include President Obama’s political weakness in the polls and his unwillingness to use force against Iran even after the Iranian murder of Americans in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon over the years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees the gravity of the situation. “The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” he told The Atlantic magazine in March 2009. “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs,” Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership. “When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”'

Unfortunately, Netanyahu hasn’t seen the Obama administration strengthen the American economy or take decisive measures to stop Iran from getting the Bomb, and he is getting anxious. “The international community must stop Iran before it’s too late,” Netanyahu warned in his United Nations speech last month. “If Iran is not stopped, we will all face the specter of nuclear terrorism, and the Arab Spring could soon become an Iranian winter….The world around Israel is definitely becoming more dangerous.”

To truly understand how just how dangerous Iran’s regime really is, American leaders need to better understand Shia eschatology.

Read more: Fox News

Don't Attack Iran; G-d Will Ruin Ahmadinejad

Rabbi Shalom Berger, the Rebbe of Mishkoltz, says there is no need to attack Iran because G-d will get rid of Ahmadinejad.

“In my opinion, there is no necessity to take any military action against Iran," he said in a recent lesson to students. “The wicked Iranian [Ahmadinejad], who threatens to destroy Israel, will disappear shortly, before he will have time to vent his anger.”

The rabbi explained, “G-d brings a horrible ruler against Israel. He [the Creator] brings problems on Israel in order to unite the People of Israel."

“The wicked Haman [from the Scroll of Esther] did not do anything. He wanted to, but he could not do anything. We must stop with divisions and factions and we must love all the People of Israel and care about every individual.

“This is the way to deal with the Iranian threat, just like in the days of Haman.”

The Rabbi was referring to the story told in the Book of Esther, which notes that the Queen asked to gather all the Jews, without exception , to fast and pray for her success in going before the King to try to save the Jews. They were all, from the smallest to the greatest, young and old, set to be exterminated by the king's advisor Haman. She succeeded in her mission and the Jewish sages said that this shows that when the Jews are unified, they can withstand those who wish to harm them.

Source: Israel National News

On bombing Iran...

What is all this propaganda all over the internet about a plan to bomb Iran?  Why would they announce such a thing anyway?   Do you believe it, or think it's just a scare tactic and/or diversion?

June 5: Twelfth Imam Expected

Increasing tensions between Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intensified when hardline clerics exerted pressure on Ahmadinejad to obey the supreme leader as the ultimate authority. Those tensions were exacerbated with the arrest of over 25 of Ahmadinejad’s associates and loyalists, along with a high-level member of his inner circle. Supporters of the supreme leader are referring to Ahmadinejad’s group as “The Deviant Movement.”

This “group” has announced that within the upcoming weeks a monumental event will turn the tide to their advantage.

Based on a report from Iran’s Ayandeh, one of the officials within “The Deviant Movement” has informed his confidants that certain sources close to the “Mahdi’s Emergence Movement” have stated that an important event will soon change the course of operations to Ahmadinejad’s favor. According to interpretations offered by Ahmadinejad’s team, a high-ranking member of the Islamic Republic will meet with a climactic incident. This in turn will build up to the announcement of the “covert emergence” of the Twelfth Imam (or Mahdi) in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Hardliners critical of Ahmadinejad maintain that his team believes a covert emergence will commence on the 14th of Khordaad (June 5) in Medina, setting the stage for the announcement of the actual emergence in the next few years.

Ahmadinejad believes that the covert emergence has, in fact, occurred. Therefore, he acts like he no longer needs the supreme leader and that he can disobey him, as he is taking his orders directly from the Mahdi himself.

Full story here

The Persian Magicians

Last week we heard the news Ahmadinejad allies charged with sorcery:

Allies of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have been been accused of using 'black magic' to keep the leader in power.

Twenty-five people close to the leader, including the chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have reportedly been arrested and charged with being 'magicians' and invoking spirits to try and influence his policy.

And with a hat tip to my good friend Devorah Designs..... who found this blogpost from 2006 written by Yeranen Yaakov, where he notes that:

"Rashi on the Gemara in Sanhedrin 98.... explains that before Mashiah comes, the Persian magicians who bother Israel will be destroyed."

You can find it here: End of Days - Where are we?