War with Iran seems like a bigger possibility every day. We spoke on Friday about the biggest reason the US wants war with Iran. Today, we’ll look at the very real threat that Iran poses to the world.
Before WWII got started, Adolf Hitler was upfront about the scourge of Jews as he saw it. He wanted them eliminated. Many other Germans for decades had had this view. (That being said, I’m not sure that they were ever as specific as the Iranian leadership is today as you’ll see below.)
But the Jews just laughed it off. They assumed that nobody could be so evil as to try and wipe out an entire people group. They assumed that Hitler didn’t mean it.
Well, he did. He exterminated 6 million Jews. Two out of every three Jews living in Europe were killed!
The Jews have from that day till this one said, “Never again!” They will never ignore such threats and assume that the person making threats to their very lives doesn’t really mean it. They have to assume the one doing the threatening means it because to ignore it could mean to perish as it did the last time.
So now let’s look at what the most powerful Shiite Islamic Leader of Iran had to say earlier this month (as conveyed to me in the “Prayer Update from Israel” provided by Glory of Zion)…
That “supreme leader” on Friday said that “The Zionist regime [i.e. Israel] is a cancerous tumor and it will be removed.” Khamenei further promised that “Iran would assist any country or organization that would fight the Zionist regime, which is now weaker than ever” (“Khamenei: Zionist regime is a cancer”, by Dudi Cohen: ynetnews.com, 03 Feb 2012, 12:06).
This is not the first time such a statement has been made in recent years by Iran. The president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also made statements about wiping Israel off the map. But all in Iran must bow to Khamenei, and he is promising to remove Israel as if she were a cancer.
What would you do if you were Israel? Ignore it when to do so in the past meant death? Or strike before Iran has the capability of wiping them off the map which apparently, they will have very soon.
This is not a post meant to persuade anyone. We’re apolitical here. But it struck me the position that Israel is in and what that must feel like. Israel’s best strategy would be to submit themselves to the Lord and let Him defend her as He has done so many times in the past. But we did want to share the perspective as I understand it.
Our guess is that it won’t get to the point of Israel being alone in attacking Iran. Actually, it seems likely that Israel won’t even be involved.
The US is doing what it always does when preparing for war against a decided enemy. Our guess is that the US will make war on Iran in 2012.
Of course, loss of life is the most important thing here. However, since we talk about financial stewardship on this blog, it’s important to note the potentially devastating economic consequences.
About 30% of the world’s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which is the tiny bottleneck of the Persian Gulf between Iran & Oman. Most of the oil from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, & Iran flow through this tiny stretch of water.
Iran has the capability to, and has made the promise of, closing down this Strait to oil passage if war were to happen. The US would of course attempt to open it back up as quickly as possible. Oil prices would certainly shoot to the moon upon closure. If Iran were able to keep it closed for any length of time, it would be crippling to the world economy.
This is an important consideration when allocating your family’s capital for both protection and growth.
This is the 13th post in a series. You should read the initial thoughts on these forecasts here. and the Overall Prediction Page here. Here are the rest of the posts: 3) Ben Bernanke’s Dollar Devaluation Plan, 4) The Coming US Dollar Devaluation, 5) Stock Market Volatility, & 6) Stocks to Fall in 2012, 7) The European Crises, & 8) European Options, 9) European Prediction, 10) Recession in Japan, 11) Japanese Yen Crash, & 12) War with Iran.