Report: 12,000 Iranians Killed

Good morning!

A shocking report shows that the Iranian regime’s crackdown on dissent is more brutal and deadly than we thought. Iran’s media blackout obscures the reality, but as UK-based, anti-Iran news outlet Iran International writes, “Internet cuts, crippled communications, media shutdowns, and intimidation of journalists and witnesses point to one goal: preventing a vast and historic crime from being seen.”

[BRIEF]

Iran International accumulated every scrap of evidence it could, including sources within the Iranian government, to construct an accurate picture of what is truly happening. Their editorial board concluded that the Iranian regime killed at least 12,000 people—sixfold higher than the worst previous estimate total—just on Thursday night and Friday night.

In terms of geographic scope, intensity of violence, and the number of deaths in a short time span, this killing is unprecedented in Iran’s history.

Based on information received, those killed were mainly shot by forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij.

This killing was fully organized, not the result of “sporadic” and “unplanned” clashes.

Information received from the Supreme National Security Council and the presidential office indicates that the killing was carried out on the direct order of Ali Khamenei, with the explicit knowledge and approval of the heads of all three branches of government, and with an order for live fire issued by the Supreme National Security Council.

Many of those killed were young people under the age of 30.

The 12,000 number is still unverified by other sources, but no long-term observer of the Iranian regime would put it past them. The Western mind can scarcely comprehend the evil of this Islamofascist regime—but we need to comprehend it in all its terror, because it’s about to affect not thousands but millions.

Ever since the shah was overthrown in 1979, the Iranian Revolution has sought to reestablish Islamic rule over the Middle East and beyond. It has built a huge internal security apparatus that is loyal, to the death, to the revolution. It has repeatedly crushed internal revolt.

This regime well illustrates a sad fact of history: Totalitarian states must rule by compulsion and repression. They care not about the lives of their people. They care only about power.

It should surprise no one that the ideology that motivated and funded Hamas’s murderous onslaught on Oct. 7, 2023, has so mercilessly clung to power in Tehran.

Of course, the Iranian regime always plays the long game. It has shown itself willing to compromise in the short term to preserve its rule. (Even now it is reaching out to the Trump administration about nuclear negotiations.) We may even see a new ayatollah who would proffer the promise of change.

Don’t be fooled. In the end, these are mere tactics. The strategy is radical Islamist domination.

This regime’s warfare on its own people represents the total belief and dedication of the regime to its own ideology. This regime will never go away until it is completely defeated. And as long as it still holds power over the state security apparatus, that defeat is impossible.

In prophetic terms, we are getting a front-row view of the inflexible dedication of the “king of the south” of Daniel 11:40. This king will stop at nothing, including its own annihilation, to plunge the world into mass violence—and thus initiate the return of its promised Twelfth Imam.

The aim of a government should be to help its people flourish. The nightmare in Iran is much closer to what the great mass of people throughout history have experienced: government that instills dread, government that exercises dominion, government that depresses and benumbs its people.

The Bible promises that soon, this ruinous regime, along with all other flawed experiments in human governance, will be supplanted by a form of government, led by the loving God Himself, that truly works.

‘Europe needs a powerful standing army’: On Sunday, European Union Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius called for a “powerful, standing European military force” composed of 100,000 troops.

In light of the ongoing carnage wrought by Russia in Ukraine, a unified European army is appealing to many. However, the Bible warns that this force will actually be used against America and Britain.

“Would the United States be militarily stronger if they [had] 50 armies on the state level instead of a single federal army?” Kubilius asked during his speech in Sweden. “If our answer is no … then what are we waiting for?”

He later added: “We need to start to invest our money in such a way that we would be able to fight as Europe, not just as [a] collection of 27 national ‘bonsai armies.’”

This call arrives as Europe casts doubt on America’s trustworthiness to protect it against Russia and rising resentment caused by President Trump’s comments on acquiring or even conquering Greenland. Kubilius even said this unified army could replace the American troops stationed in Europe since the end of World War ii.

• To help make his dream a reality, Kubilius proposed a European Security Council of 10 to 12 key members to decide the most serious defense issues.

A centralized European army stemming from the EU, composed of 10 nations, is what the Trumpet and its predecessor, the Plain Truth, have warned about for decades:

“[I]f 300 million Europeans were united and could speak with one voice, this would excel any might in the world today,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in a 1967 Plain Truth article. He added that there was “one thing you can count on. In fact, it is so sure you can bank on it: The cry of a political union in Europe will get louder, and before long we will see the Common Market develop into a United States of Europe.”

A united Europe, a militarized Europe, even a 10-nation “united states of Europe” is becoming more and more a recognized and imminent possibility, as the EU defense commissioner’s comments highlight. This should be a loud wake-up call for America: The Bible states that this supposed ally will actually cause its destruction.

Hamas terrorists infiltrated Gaza’s ngos: Conditions in Gaza are brutal. Palestinians are starving. Donate now! People throughout the world have seen messages like these soliciting money for various nongovernmental organizations (ngos). However, internal Hamas documents reveal that the terrorist group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre—as well as for the war in Gaza, the use of human shields, and other moral and legal crimes—also thoroughly infiltrated numerous international aid organizations in Gaza.

Those who supported charities and other ngos in Gaza were indirectly supporting Hamas’s brutal rule over Gazans and its genocidal mission against the Jewish state.

A report from ngo Monitor “confirms the worst fears surrounding humanitarian aid in Gaza,” Bild reported today, citing exclusive insight obtained from the Israeli group.

Hamas used so-called guarantors as senior officials within Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, Save the Children, Handicap International, the Norwegian Refugee Council and every other ngo in Gaza. According to the Hamas documents, their mission was to infiltrate and put these organizations under constant technological surveillance. This infiltration extended Hamas’s tyranny over the Gazan population and kept its terrorist organization alive.

“The evidence confirms that ngos in Gaza do not operate independently or neutrally,” ngo Monitor wrote. “Rather, they are embedded in an institutionalized framework of coercion, intimidation and surveillance that serves Hamas’s terror objectives.”

Numerous governments and other entities supported Gaza’s supposedly charitable and supposedly independent nongovernmental organizations, but Germany’s complicity in keeping Palestinian terrorist groups alive is worthy of special scrutiny. The Bible reveals that this is not accidental. It is part of a long history of cooperation that will re-erupt into major violence in the near future.

IN OTHER NEWS

China shores up influence in Africa: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi completed a six-day tour of African nations yesterday, underscoring China’s ongoing efforts to boost its power over the resource-rich continent. Wang’s visits to Ethiopia, Lesotho and Tanzania further advance China’s global Belt and Road Initiative, in which the Chinese regime loans vast amounts of money to smaller nations to help build ports, railroads, highways, airports and other infrastructure improving their links to the Chinese economy. The terms of the deals often enable China to gain full control over these and other trade assets. China is continuing to develop the massive, anti-American trade bloc prophesied in the Bible.

Will fear of Russia unite Moldova and Romania? “If we have a referendum, I would vote for the unification with Romania,” Moldovan President Maia Sandu told British podcast The Rest Is Politics on Sunday. The small East European country, which borders Romania and Ukraine, has been targeted by Russian hybrid warfare, according to Sandu. She fears that Moldova, home to a population of only 2.4 million, will not “survive” on its own. The late Herbert W. Armstrong often referred to the “fear of Russia” as a trigger for Europe unifying into an empire. In 1980, he wrote that Romania could be one of the 10 nations that Revelation 17 prophesies will constitute this empire. As he and Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry have also stated, it is feasible that the prophesied “ten kings” will rule over nation-groups.

Croatia reintroduces conscription: For the first time since 2008, Croatia is bringing back compulsory military service for young men. Around 1,200 Croatians have already received letters drafting them into two months of service. Croatia has only 15,000 active troops, but roughly 27,000 males reach military age each year. Croatia abandoned conscription after joining nato in 2009, but Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the prospect of further armed conflict have resulted in significant remilitarization efforts across Europe. With military service laws, industrial retooling, cultural shifts, shifting alliances and more, Europe is in the process of building a superpower.

Pope makes a move on Venezuela: Yesterday, Pope Leo xiv met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in a private audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. The Vatican has not released any details about the discussion, but Machado said she asked the pontiff to help pressure Venezuela’s regime into releasing political prisoners. The United States arrested Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro for drug trafficking on January 3, and President Trump said the U.S. will essentially “run the country.” Although the Vatican’s influence might seem slight at this point, Bible prophecy forecasts that it will soon exert much more influence in Venezuela—to the detriment of the United States.