The Libyan foreign minister received a warm reception in Washington last week. The redemption of this former pariah state has been hailed as a great success story. “If diplomats wrote fairy tales, this would probably be one,” said bbc diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus. The United States, however, is not the only nation Libya has been drawing closer to. Only a week before the U.S. visit, the Iranian vice president visited Libya, the first such high-level trip in 25 years.

Libya’s foreign minister, Abdel-Rahman Shalqam, received a grand reception in Washington last Thursday. He met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was given a tour of the White House and lunched with executives from Lockhead Martin, Boeing, Occidental Petroleum, among others.

Despite its violent past, Libya gave up its nuclear weapons program and has made decisive steps to reconcile itself with the West. As a result, it is being welcomed with open arms. It currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.

After the Washington meeting, Shalqam was very positive about Libya’s relationship with the U.S. “Relations between the United States and Libya are very important to us,” he said. “We want a new friendship.” He went on assure the U.S. that Libya does not back militant Islam the way some other governments do. “Our interpretation of Islamic heritage is completely different from the others who don’t accept the philosophy of coexistence,” he said.

Many of the promises of friendship made to the U.S., however, are very similar to recent comments made to Iran by Libya’s leader Muammar Qadhafi. Iran’s Vice President Parvis Davoudi met with Qadhafi and his Prime Minister El-Baghdadi Ali El-Mahmoudi on December 27. According to a Libyan newspaper,

Qadhafi highlighted during the meeting the importance of the existence of good relations between the two countries as well as Iran’s role in the region and the world.Qadhafi said Libya welcomed Iranian businessmen and traders to work in Libya and take part in the huge infrastructural projects that are taking place.The two sides’ cooperation could be extended to other regions … such as African countries as well as countries in Latin America, he said.Expansion of relations between Iran and Libya would open new horizons for both countries, he said.

Perhaps the most interesting comment though, came from Libyan Prime Minister El-Mahmoudi. At a press conference after the meeting, he said:

We discussed the issues related to Iraq, Palestine and other issues, and our views are identical on all those issues.

Iran and Libya have identical views on Palestinian issues. Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map. Does Libya share the same view?

At the moment, Libya is trying to befriend both the U.S. and Iran. A look at some of Qadhafi’s rhetoric, however, reveals whose side he is really on. Here are some telling quotes from a speech Libya’s leader gave in Timbuktu in 2006:

Had Jesus been alive when the message was revealed to Mohammad, He would have been one of his followers. Everyone must be Muslim. This is what God wants, and this is not easily achievable. …Eventually, the approach pursued by the West, Europe and the United States incites hatred. It is corrupt, inhuman and flawed. The so-called Old Testament and the New Testament are not the Old and the New Testament. Those two Testaments are a fraud. …We do not need the sword or the bomb to spread Islam. We have 50 million Muslims in Europe and there are signs that God will proclaim Islam in Europe without a gun and without conquest. The 50 million Muslims in Europe will change Europe in the years and make it an Islamic continent. …Both Europe and America are cornered. They either have to accept the fact that they will be Muslim in due course, or they should declare war against Muslims.

On whose side does it sound like he is on: the U.S. or Iran?

Libya’s people are also far more sympathetic to Iran than the U.S. Although unsupported by the government, according to Stratfor, Libya supplies more militants per capita to Iraq than any other country (Dec. 21, 2007).

The Trumpet has long written that Libya would ally with Iran. Here’s what Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote almost two years ago:

Look for Libya to become more aligned with Iran in the near future. It gave up its weapons of mass destruction, as it leaned toward the West. But that foreign policy is going to change. Perhaps it has already begun.

For more information on Libya’s alliance with Iran, read our article “Libya Sees the Deadly Holy Roman Empire.”