Iran Is Surrounded by an Islamic Nuclear Alliance

Iran’s attacks on the Gulf Arabs about half a year ago apparently took the Arab world by surprise. Iran’s neighbors won’t be caught off guard again. They have banded together—surrounding Iran with nuclear weapons. A new mutual defense alliance signed August 7 by Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia lines Iran’s eastern, western and southern borders with nuclear and prospective nuclear states ready to defend each other.

The agreement was signed in Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Islam’s holiest city. Called the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, its text hasn’t been made public yet. But a joint statement affirmed “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all” and that the agreement’s provisions “provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defense cooperation among the three states.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan posted on X the agreement includes “developing joint projects in the defense industry and combatting terrorism.”

Iran wasn’t mentioned in the alliance’s announcement. The member states claimed they had no particular country in mind. But both Saudi Arabia and Turkey were attacked by Iran during the Iran war’s active fighting, while media reports suggest Pakistan was prepared to fight Iran.

Two member states have nuclear weapons. Pakistan has approximately 170 nuclear warheads that can be delivered by both ballistic and cruise missiles and is believed to be expanding its warhead stockpile. Turkey hosts approximately 20 nuclear bombs in joint control with the United States. Saudi Arabia recently made a nuclear deal with the U.S. where the U.S. would supply nuclear infrastructure outside the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency; the open secret is that Saudi Arabia wants the capability to produce its own nuclear weapons.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Fox News in 2023 that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, “we have to get one.” He elaborated on his fears for the Middle East if Iran gets a nuclear weapon: If “any country uses a nuclear weapon, that means they are having a war with the rest of the world. The world cannot see another Hiroshima. If the world sees another 100,000 people dead, that means you’re in a war with the rest of the world.”

Despite being heavily battered from the recent war, Iran is still openly pursuing nuclear weapons. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Ahmad Vahidi recently admitted, according to media: “As long as the United States and Israel possess nuclear weapons, we will continue working on them for our national security.” Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium appear to be mostly intact.

Turkey is a military powerhouse with almost 500,000 active-duty soldiers and more naval assets than Saudi Arabia and Pakistan combined. Perhaps most importantly, Turkey is on Iran’s northwest border, on the opposite side of the region of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Including Turkey in the alliance is a massive provocation against Iran. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia probably wouldn’t be courting Turkey unless they felt it was absolutely necessary for their defence. The alliance’s existence suggests all three countries see Iran as a potential threat—serious enough to literally threaten the nuclear option.

In other words, the nuclear arms race Crown Prince Mohammed described seems to be happening.

A Nuclear Whirlwind?

A prophecy in Psalm 83, as elaborated on in Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s booklet The King of the South, describes an end-time coalition of Middle Eastern peoples formed under the leadership of “Assur,” or Assyria—modern Germany (verse 8). Verse 6 describes “Edom” and “the Ishmaelites,” the ancestral peoples of modern Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Factoring in other prophecies like Daniel 11:40, which describes Germany as “the king of the north” attacking Iran as “the king of the south,” and the Psalm 83 alliance appears as an anti-Iranian alliance from the moderate Islamic world. Daniel 11:40 specifies Germany would attack Iran “like a whirlwind.”

“If you are in a whirlwind,” Mr. Flurry writes in The King of the South, “it whirls all around you. Even now, we can see that the German strategy is to surround Iran and its allies. … This word has an unusual emphasis on terror! Will this terrifying whirlwind be nuclear? It certainly will be terrorizing! And it is about to explode in the Middle East. Finally the terrorists themselves will be terrorized!”

A German presence surrounding Iran isn’t yet apparent. But a nuclear-armed defensive alliance surrounding Iran’s borders made up of the same peoples of Psalm 83 exists now. (It is worth noting, according to Turkish daily Hürriyet, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called his German counterpart three days after the Mecca agreement to update him on “regional developments.” Hürriyet implies this may have to do with the new alliance.)

Where Pakistan fits in the prophetic system isn’t completely clear. But Germany has had strong relations with Pakistan since the 1950s and German arms exports to Pakistan are worth tens of millions of euros annually. If Germany wanted to attack Iran like a whirlwind—from every side—having some influence from Iran’s eastern border would probably be a necessity.

The Name of Israel

One other important note: The Psalm 83 alliance comes together in part to counter Iran. But this isn’t the alliance’s main purpose. That is detailed in verses 3-4: “They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.”

The real reason these countries come together is not to push back against Iran. It is to destroy the nations of Israel. This includes the State of Israel but also the U.S. and the British Commonwealth. (Request a free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s The United States and Britain in Prophecy for more information.)

The day after the alliance’s ceremony, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif called for “a united military front” to counter Israel, calling Israel “a threat to the entire Muslim world.” He further called Israel “an illegitimate state” that “could pose a direct threat to any of the countries in the region.” Pakistan has never recognized Israel’s right to exist.

This technically isn’t part of the alliance’s manifesto. Saudi Arabia, despite also not recognizing Israel, has had cordial under-the-surface ties for years. But Turkey’s President Erdoğan has made similar statements to Asif’s for years, even implying Turkey is the rightful owner of Jerusalem.

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement could very well be the formal start of what will become the Psalm 83 alliance. At the very least, it is matching many of the trends Bible prophecy states to look out for. Time will tell. Either way, as Mr. Flurry writes, “Soon that whirlwind will start rotating and whirling against the king of the south with increasing speed, like a well-armed—probably nuclear-armed—vortex!”

To learn more, request a free copy of The King of the South.