BBC News reports: “Iran has warned that airlines will be banned from flying into its airspace, unless they use the term ‘Persian Gulf’ on their in-flight monitors.

The transport minister has threatened to impound planes that fail to comply.

The nation is most insistent that the stretch of water separating it from its southern neighbours should be known as the Persian Gulf.

To call it the Gulf, annoys the authorities, to call it the Arabian Gulf, infuriates them even more.

Conferences are held to make the matter quite clear, an ancient map with definitive proof of the correct name was sent on a world tour.

And recently a foreign member of the cabin crew working for an Iranian airline was sacked and expelled from Iran when he got it wrong.

Now the Iranian transport minister has given foreign airlines 15 days to change the name to Persian Gulf on their in flight monitors.

If they failed, they would be prevented from entering Iranian airspace, he warned.

And if the offence was repeated, foreign airliners would be grounded and refused permission to leave Iran.

Numerous Arab airlines fly into Iran every day, not to mention Europeans and others, so it remains to be seen how they will respond…” (This headline is shocking since Iran is the nation called Persia mentioned in Ezekiel 38:5.)

Haaretz reports: “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Arab nations will usher in a new Middle East without Zionists and without colonialists.

Ahmadinejad made the comments during his visit in Syria, where he met with President Bashar Assad, opening a two-day visit that follows U.S. efforts to break up Syria’s 30-year alliance with Tehran.

The Iranian president also said that ‘if the Zionist regime wants to repeat its past mistakes, this will constitute its demise and annihilation.’

Assad signaled his strong support for Iran, saying America’s stance toward the country is a ‘new situation of colonialism in the region.’

Ahmadinejad said Iran, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon will all stand against Israel.

‘(The Americans) want to dominate the region but they feel Iran and Syria are preventing that,’ Ahmadinejad said during a news conference with Assad. ‘We tell them that instead of interfering in the region’s affairs, to pack their things and leave.’

Ahmadinejad is also scheduled to meet senior officials from the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, Syria’s state-run news agency said.

Before leaving Tehran, Ahmadinejad told reporters that ‘the Zionist regime and its sponsors’ are rapidly approaching a dead-end, according to the Iranian Students News Agency. Ahmadinejad also said that Iran and Syria have common viewpoints and stances and Syria is on the frontline against Israel…” (Isaiah 56:5 is God’s promise that this 21^st century Hitler will not have his heart’s desire fulfilled because Yahweh God will give Israel “an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.“)

Reuters reports: “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the September 11 attacks on the United States a ‘big fabrication’ that was used to justify the U.S. war on terrorism, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad, who often rails against the West and Israel, made the comment in a meeting with Intelligence Ministry personnel.

It came amid escalating tension in the long-running dispute between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program, with the United States pushing for new U.N. sanctions against the major oil producer.

Ahmadinejad described the destruction of the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001 as a ‘complicated intelligence scenario and act,’ IRNA reported.

He added: ‘The September 11 incident was a big fabrication as a pretext for the campaign against terrorism and a prelude for staging an invasion against Afghanistan.’ He did not elaborate.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington, which were carried out by al Qaeda operatives.

In January, Ahmadinejad termed the September 11 attacks ‘suspicious’ and accused the West of seeking to dominate the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, was re-elected in a disputed presidential vote last June that stirred the largest display of internal unrest in the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution…” (Only an unlearned idiot could claim the above information as valid. Ahmadinejad reminds me of the story of Balaam and his donkey. I wish the verse could be repeated in our day: “…Balaam… was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet” – II Peter 2:15, 16.)

SpaceWar.com reports: “With defense and acrimony building in the Persian Gulf, Iran announced plans to test a new laser-guided bomb.

Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that a prototype of the 2,000-pound smart bomb would be tested ‘in the near future,’ the country’s air force commander Brig. Gen Hassan Shahsafi said.

He said the smart bomb, dubbed Qassed-2, had a longer range and better vision than its earlier version, the Qassed-1. That weapon made its debut four years ago and has since then been in mass production. Qassed is interpreted as ‘messenger.’

It was not immediately clear how advanced the prototype is and whether it would be available for mass production.

Western military experts seemed skeptical of the announcement, saying the Islamic Republic had a history of declaring military advancements prematurely as a means of saber-rattling.

Others speculated that ‘the announcement of the Qassed-2 is a move of brinkmanship to discourage the Gulf emirate states of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates from participating in the expansion of the United States’ Patriot missile defense system,’ the Threat Matrix reported…” (Iran’s goal is the fulfillment of Psalm 83:4 “…let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” God has promised Israel 120 times that they, as a nation, will exist forever. See the next three reports and apply this message to all the threatening headlines.)

The Jerusalem Post reports: “Iran is building a new rocket launch site with North Korean assistance, Israel Radio quoted IHS Jane’s as reporting.

The new launcher, constructed near an existing rocket base in the Semnan province east of Teheran, is visible in satellite imagery, according to the report.

The defense intelligence group said the appearance of the launcher suggests assistance from North Korea, and that it may be intended to launch the Simorgh, a long-range Iranian-made missile unveiled in early February and officially intended to be used as a space-launch vehicle (SLV). SLV’s can be converted to be used as long-range ballistic missiles for military purposes.

Both the missile and the launch pad, which according to Jane’s is large enough to accommodate it, point to cooperation from Pyongyang.

Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, said shortly after the unveiling of the Simorgh that the rocket is a worrisome development since the missile could one day be adapted into an ICBM, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

After analyzing images of the missile, Inbar said that it appeared to currently be powered by liquid fuel, but could one day be configured to work with a solid fuel propellant, a technology that the Iranians have already begun using in their Sajil ballistic missile, which has a range of around 2,500 km.

‘This is a major technological breakthrough and could mean that the Iranians are on their way to obtaining an ICBM,’ he said…”

Reuters reports: “Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel should be resisted and finished off if it launched military action in the region, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

Ahmadinejad’s comments were made when the president spoke over the telephone with his Syrian counterpart…

Syria — a key regional ally of Iran — accused Israel of pushing the Middle East toward a new war.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, in an interview said Israeli aircraft were making daily incursions into Lebanese air space, creating a very dangerous situation.

‘We have reliable information … that the Zionist regime is after finding a way to compensate for its ridiculous defeats from the people of Gaza and Lebanon’s Hezbollah,’ Ahmadinejad told Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, referring to conflicts in 2006 and 2009.

‘If the Zionist regime should repeat its mistakes and initiate a military operation, then it must be resisted with full force to put an end to it once and for all.’

Ahmadinejad, who has often predicted the imminent demise of the Jewish state, said Iran would remain on the side of regional nations including Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

The Islamic Republic does not recognize Israel, which it refers to as the Zionist regime. Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat and has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row.

Iran, the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter, says it would retaliate for any attack on its nuclear facilities which it says are part of a peaceful energy program but which the West suspects are aimed at making bombs…”

Israel National News reports: “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reportedly angling to start another war between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbullah terrorist group in order to deflect attention away from his own lack of popularity at home. Ahmadinejad has faced constant friction from grassroots opposition movements since last June, when lopsided election results re-electing the president raised red flags among suspicious voters, who suspected the government had rigged the polls.

‘As Israel is beating the war drums four years after its humiliating military defeat against Hizbullah, many believe that Ahmadinejad might exploit another conflict between Israel and the militant group as a way of resolving his own lack of legitimacy inside Iran,’ wrote Iran’s Green Voice newspaper.

The publication, which represents the ‘green’ anti-government protest movement in Iran, noted that many Hizbullah terrorists were involved in the violent post-presidential election crackdowns on protestors who demonstrated for weeks against the results.

The newspaper identified as one example Hossein Manif Ashmar, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard force that attacked the northern Tehran campaign office of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi on election day, June 12, 2009. The paper said Ashmar, who has been living in the country since the mid-1990s, also works at Hizbullah headquarters in Iran. Two of his brothers died as ‘shaheeds’ (martyrs) – both as members of the Hizbullah terrorist group.

The report also alleged that Hizbullah was the beneficiary of a gift of $400 million from its Iranian handlers last month during ‘Iran-Lebanon Friendship Week.’…”

Haaretz reports: “President Shimon Peres said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must face ‘total’ international isolation, adding that his anti-Israel rhetoric was only a cover for his ambitions for Iranian hegemony in the Middle East.

‘A person like Ahmadinejad, who calls openly to destroy the state of Israel, cannot be a full member of the United Nations,’ Peres said, as he met visiting U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden in Jerusalem.

‘A man who calls for acts of terror, and who hangs people in the street … he should be placed in his proper definition. He cannot go around almost like a cultural hero,’ Peres said.

‘Ahmadinejad has to be isolated and not be welcomed in the capitals of the world,’ Peres said.

Peres urged Washington to ‘surround Iran with an envelope’ to protect Israel against Tehran’s ‘missiles and nuclear threat’.

‘We have trust in President [Barack] Obama,’ Peres told visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. But when it comes to Iran’s contentious nuclear program, said Peres, ‘Nobody knows exactly what they are doing.’…” (30 nations presently agree to supply Israel’s protection. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” – Psalm 122:6.