Where Is Iran's Nuclear Brinkmanship Leading?
Commentary by Cecil E. Maranville
United Church of God elder, Glendale, AZ
In a bold speech before the
United Nations on September 17th, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
rejected the offer of incentives by the EU3 (England, France and Germany)
to abandon uranium enrichment for its nuclear program.
"His speech began like a muezzin's sermon [a muezzin is
the Muslim crier who summons people to prayer at the mosque] on justice
between nations. It contained the unbeatable argument that it is impermissible
for one group of countries to deny another group access to nuclear energy
thereby holding back its development. He reminded the UN that the IAEA
[International Atomic Energy Agency] rules specified it was the duty
of nuclear nations to assist others in the peaceful utilization of the
atom. He was warmly applauded" ("Iranian President's
UN Debut," Sept. 19, 2005, Novosti).
The U.S. and EU opinion is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not
a trustworthy guardian for enriched (weapons grade) uranium. President
Bush named Iran as part of an "Axis of Evil," and the U.S.
State Department considers Iran to be a sponsor of terrorism. In fact,
the State Department lists President Ahmadinejad as a terrorist and had
to make a special exception to allow him to enter the country to attend
the UN General Assembly!
Confronted by a CNN reporter on the charge of state-sponsored terrorism,
Ahmadinejad insisted that Iran was the victim of terrorism,
citing past assassinations of government officials!
Ahmadinejad startled the world earlier this month when meeting with
President Tayyip Ergodan of Turkey, another Islamic nation, by declaring
that Iran would share its nuclear know-how with other Islamic nations.
That is disturbing in light of the fact that the technological pathway
to peaceful nuclear power is the same as the pathway to nuclear weaponry.
The U.S., the EU and the IAEA want to restrict Iran to purchasing its
enriched uranium from other nations, rather than produce it. Ahmadinejad
argues that is unreasonable, for Iran could produce it at a fraction
of what it would have to pay to purchase it elsewhere.
For the time being, it appears that all parties want to continue diplomatic
negotiations. Iran has nothing to lose in doing so, as the EU3 continue
to sweeten pot with proposed economic benefits designed to tease it away
from uranium enrichment.
Ahmadinejad's clever speech at the UN struck a popular cord.
He framed the argument in terms of the rich and powerful Western nations
imposing unequal and unfair rules upon a weaker nation. And, he portrayed
Iran as environmentally concerned (wanting to develop nuclear fuel instead
of using fossil fuel), as well as humanitarian (willing to share with
other Islamic nations).
If the West gets its way, Iran wins anyway, for it walks away with
the economic incentives. And, Ahmadinejad comes away with the reputation
of a hero to much of the world. The U.S. would come across as an imperialist
bully to many nations.
In order to understand Iran's policies and the attitude of its
people, one has to view world events through the prism of Shia tradition
and prophecy. Central to their prophetic belief is the appearance of
a "mahdi" in the end time. "Mahdi" means, "guided
one," that is, divinely guided. They believe he will unite Islam
and "... battle the forces of evil in one final, apocalyptic battle.
When evil has been defeated once and for all, the Iman Mahdi will rule
the world for several years under a perfect government and bring about
a perfect spirituality among the peoples of the world. After the Iman
Mahdi has reigned for several years, Jesus Christ will return…" (Richard
Hooker, "The Hidden Iman," 1996, http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/SHIA/HIDDEN.HTM).
Would modern Iranians look to a political leader as the prophesied "hidden
mahdi?" Hooker reports that "... during the Iranian Revolution,
several Iranians believe that the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khumayni [Khomeini],
the spiritual and theoretical head of the Revolution, was the Hidden
Iman returned to the world of humanity. While Khumayni never admitted
this, he never denied it either."
Bible prophecy tells of an end time world figure it calls the King
of the South who will lead a confederation against a more powerful leader
of another confederation of nations identified as the King of the North
(Daniel 11:40). The present world scene indicates a good possibility
that the Kingdom of the South may be a confederation of Islamic nations.
Its "king" could meet many of the Shiite expectations of
a mahdi.
  For
a detailed presentation of the history of Islam and how that history
may relate to end time Bible prophecy, request or download The Good
News magazine with its current lead article "Disunited Nations" and
our free booklet, The Middle East in Bible
Prophecy.
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