The Red Sea is quickly becoming one of the world’s most important flash points. With the Iran-backed Houthis gaining more control of the mouth of the sea, and the Strait of Hormuz mostly closed by Iran, the fate of the Red Sea will have a massive influence on the global economy.

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Saudi Arabia has asked China to ask Iran to ask the Houthis to dial it back again. China supports Iran but also depends on the free flow of trade through the Red Sea. The Chinese are ready to talk, but will the Iranians listen?

Europe is stepping up. In 2024, the European Union launched its Aspides mission to protect ships from the Houthis. Yesterday the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called for EU nations to send more ships.

• The EU initially believed Aspides would require at least 10 ships. Currently, only six are engaged in the mission. Kallas told reporters at the United Nations that even a force of 10 is not enough.

Italy has already begun stepping up its naval presence and is considering going it alone. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said he has decided “not to wait for Aspides” and that Italy will “likely take action” to protect its own ships through the strait “without waiting for European bureaucracy.” It might withdraw its ships from the EU framework and focus on protecting its own merchants.

The EU’s military presence in the Middle East has been underwhelming thus far. But Europe cannot neglect these vital sea lanes forever.

• Twenty percent of all container shipping and 10 percent of all seaborne oil pass through the Red Sea. Ships can sail south around Africa, but this adds significant time and cost to the journey. As diesel hits a record high, how long will countries tolerate the extra cost?

Iran’s direct attacks and indirect attacks through the Houthis will soon prompt a major response from Europe. Iran, lulled to sleep by Europe’s prior sluggishness, will be caught by surprise. Bible prophecy says this clash will play a major role in triggering World War iii. You can read more about it in Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “The Battle for the Red Sea.”

Lessons From Two State Elections in Germany

Germany’s future seems more uncertain than ever after state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday. But these results indicate where Germany is heading—and it aligns with Bible prophecy’s view, which is certain.

The fringe is mainstream: The far-right party Alternative für Deutschland won the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 38.2 percent, and the far-left party won in Berlin with 25.7 percent.

• The Christian Democratic Union (Chancellor Merz’s party), which has ruled various German states since 1948, failed to reach the necessary 5 percent to hold a single legislative seat in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Jew-hatred wins elections: Die Linke (The Left) hosted a rapper at an election campaign in August in Berlin’s Neukölln district who propagated the lines “Yalla yalla intifada” and “Death to the idf,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces. At the Left’s election party in Neukölln, a party member was photographed alongside Ibrahim Ibrahim, the head of a pro-Palestinian organization designated as a terrorist organization by the EU and the U.S.

• Israeli ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor warned today that, for Berlin’s Jewish community, the party’s election win poses an “immediate existential threat.”

Personalities matter: In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Social Democrats won 35.5 percent and will likely form a coalition government, despite the fact that AfD won 3 percent more. The party’s success was almost solely due to lead candidate Manuela Schwesig, who even omitted her party logo from some campaign posters.

Why Merz survives: As political commentator and former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg put it in his podcast Land in Sicht today: “What I think is really keeping things stable right now is the fact that nobody wants this [unpleasant] job at the moment.”

• What could help Chancellor Merz even more would be a foreign political crisis such as a Russian invasion of nato territory. Guttenberg noted that while one cannot count on this, such a crisis would play to Merz’s strengths.

Reforms are unpopular: Merz and his reform policies have been blamed for his party’s bad results. But he insists that the reforms to income tax, the pension system and the bureaucracy must continue. The biggest challenge is that his coalition partner is threatening to rebel, which would leave Germany ungovernable.

These lessons say a lot about the nation’s future. Germany needs charismatic leadership that can push through unpopular reforms. It also needs a gigantic crisis that makes the current issues appear insignificant. As Mr. Flurry recently wrote:

In a crisis, Germany’s elites may decide there is no time to appoint someone democratically—they could step in and select a leader quickly. But this man will hijack the whole alliance, and it will turn out very differently from what a lot of people want it to be.

This man is prophesied to rise out of the current crisis and hijack Europe, as Mr. Flurry explained in “After Trump’s Victory, Watch Germany.”

Iran’s Child Soldiers

Iran will be opening its Janfada (“self-sacrifice”) military training regimen to children under 15, its regime confirmed last week. Spokesman Sasan Zare said that only boys could apply, and some have already begun training. It starkly illustrates the nature of the death cult that is Iran’s present regime.

The Jerusalem Post provided a translation of Zare’s comments today.

• Zare said that training will begin this week, with Tehran’s Imam Hossein Square converted into a “fully equipped military training pseudo-camp.”
• Enlisted teenagers would train in “ensuring local security, general war preparations, observation, surveillance and intelligence measures” as well as using drones and “the possibility of using shoulder-launched weapons,” Zare said.
• The program’s slogan is “We have one life, and we give it for Iran.”
• The program will be overseen by the Basij, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ paramilitary police force mainly used for suppressing domestic dissent.

Training child soldiers has been state policy for decades. And it isn’t the only mass child abuse Iran’s regime is guilty of.

• Iran’s legal marriage age for girls is 13. But cases even younger than this are allowed. Former Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wrote in Tahrir-ol-vasyleh: “A man can marry a girl younger than 9 years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed.”

Children are precious to God. Psalm 127:3 states that children are a heritage and gift from God. 2 Kings 17:17 states that child sacrifice was one of the reasons God sent ancient Israel into captivity.

• Children don’t have to be burned alive as a sacrifice to Baal to arouse God’s wrath; state-sponsored mass child abuse will do.

Trumpet managing editor Joel Hilliker wrote in “Real Hope for Iran’s Oppressed”:

These people need relief. They need justice. Not a return to the shah’s royal dictatorship but the dawn of a government that will truly help them flourish! Psalm 103:6 promises, “The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.” God is not indifferent. He sees the Iranians’ oppression, hears their cries, and has promised to bring justice in His time.

The Feast of Tabernacles begins this week, a biblical celebration required of New Testament Christians that points to a time when God will depose all tyrants and give all peoples real freedom and peace. Herbert W. Armstrong’s booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like describes the liberation God wants to give the children of all nations and how He will accomplish this. Order a free copy and learn how the future Iran’s children desperately need will be given to them—and soon.

IN OTHER NEWS

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won a record supermajority in strictly controlled parliamentary elections held September 18–20, Reuters reported yesterday. The parliamentary vote marks the first since Putin launched Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022: It gives Putin’s party more than three quarters of the seats in the nation’s lower house. With all meaningful opposition excluded, international election monitors banned. and armed soldiers supervising many voting stations, a pro-Putin result was never in doubt. Nevertheless, polls indicate that most Russians continue to support Putin and the war on Ukraine, even if the election numbers exaggerate the depth of that support. Analysts say he can now present the vote as a strong mandate to escalate the conflict if he chooses.

EU to boost trade with the Philippines: Yesterday, the European Union “reached substantial agreement” with the Philippines for a free-trade agreement, according to its press release. Maroš Šefčovič, EU commissioner for trade and economic security, stated the trade deal should be finalized within two years, will form “a modern, forward-looking partnership,” and will “deepen bilateral economic ties for years to come.”