Temporary Setback for Ahmadinejad in Persia!
December 22, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
One day in the future, Persia (Iran) will be one of the 10 toe s
in Daniel 2, the 10 horns in Daniel 7, the 10 horns in Revelation 13, and the 10 horns in Revelation 13 and 17, which will push against Israel through Lebanon and Syria. (Please see Archive Whole Numbered Prophecy Update Numbers 27 to 39 for Full Exposition)
Ezekiel 38:4-12 – And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: [5] Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: [6] Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. [7] Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself,
thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
[8] After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. [9] Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. [10] Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: [11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, [12] To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
Ahmadinejad suffers Elections Setback
The four articles which follow, from various news sources, give a good overall picture of the power struggle that is currently going on in Iran between moderate and extremist conservative Islamic factions.
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST
December 21, 2006
Final results showed Thursday that hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s opponents have won elections for local councils, an embarrassing blow to the hardline leader.
Moderate conservatives opposed to Ahmadinejad have won a majority of the seats, followed by reformists who were suppressed by hard-liners in 2004, results released by the Interior Ministry showed.
The vote was widely seen as a sign of public discontent with Ahmadinejad’s hard-line stance, which has fueled fights with the West and led Iran closer to UN sanctions.
Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel rhetoric and staunch stand on Iran’s nuclear program are believed to have divided the conservatives who voted him into power.
Some conservatives feel Ahmadinejad has spent too much time confronting the West and failed to deal with Iran’s struggling economy.
The voting also represented a partial comeback for reformists, who favor closer ties with the West and further loosening of social and political restrictions under the Islamic government.
The election does not directly effect Ahmadinejad’ s admini
stration and is not expected to bring immediate policy changes. The local councils handle community matters in cities and town across the country.
But it represented the first time the public has weighed in on Ahmadinejad’s stormy presidency since he took office in June 2005. The results are expected to pressure him to change his populist anti-Western tone and focus more on Iran’s high unemployment and economic problems at home.
Leading reformist Saeed Shariati said the results of the election was a “big no” to Ahmadinejad and his allies.
“We consider this government’s policy to be against Iran’s national interests and security. It is simply acting against Iran’s interests,” Shariati said. His party seeks democratic changes within Iran’s ruling Islamic establishment and supports relations with the United States.
Similar anti-Ahmadinejad sentiment was visible in the final results of a parallel election held to select members of the Assembly of Experts, a conservative body of 86 senior clerics that monitors Iran’s supreme leader and chooses his successor.
A big boost for moderates within the ruling Islamic establishment was visible in the big number of votes for former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election runoff.
Rafsanjani, who supports dialogue with the United States, received the most votes of any Tehran candidate to win re-election to the assembly. Also re-elected was Hasan Rowhani, Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator whom Ahmadinejad repeatedly accused of making too many concessions to the Europeans.
End Jerusalem Post Article
Begin National Review Article
Iranian Supreme Leader’s Health Worsening
Michael Ledeen (National Review)
December 22, 2006
There is a very intense power struggle going on inside the Iranian regime, catalyzed by recent evidence of the worsening health of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In considerable pain from his cancer, for which he consumes a considerable quantity of opium syrup, Khamenei recently was forced to spend 2-3 days in a Tehran hospital.
His doctors told him several months ago that he was unlikely to survive much past the end of March, and he seems to be more or less on schedule.
The writer is resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
End National Review Article
INTERNAL BATTLE FOR POWER IN IRAN CONTINUES!
Begin Two UK Articles
Ahmadinejad Stifles Student Dissent
Kay Biouki and Colin Freeman
University authorities in Iran have adopted a “star rating” system for politically-active students as part of President Ahmadinejad’s crackdown on dissent within the academic elite.
Regime critics are given between one and three stars according to the perceived threat they pose. The star system has, however, become a badge of honor among those who have acquired them on their records.
Students have likened it to the German Nazi-era practice of making Jews wear the Star of David. (Sunday Telegraph-UK)
Iranian Students in Fear for Lives after Venting Fury at Ahmadinejad
Robert Tait
Iranian student activists who staged an angry protest against President Ahmadinejad last week have gone into hiding in fear for their lives after his supporters threatened them with revenge. (Guardian-UK)
End Two UK Articles
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