[Iran claims successful test of homemade S-300 missile]

Iran recently announced that it has tested a “local” version of the S-300 surface-to-air missile system whose delivery Russia nixed back in September. “We have developed the system by upgrading systems like S-200 and we have tested it successfully using all our potential and experience in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the Army and the Defense Ministry,” Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian told the Islamic Republic’s state-funded Press TV late yesterday. Years ago, Russia had agreed to sell the relatively advanced S-300 air defense missiles to Iran. But following repeated delays in their actual delivery, Russia canceled the sale in September because or pressure from and improved ties with the United States. The announcement comes amidst a chest-thumping air defense exercise that Iran has been conducting this week around the country’s nuclear sites. The S-300′s longer range and improved engagement capability over Iran’s existing air defenses might have given the United States and Israel pause when considering an attack on Iran’s nuclear program …

U.S.: Building freeze must cover Jerusalem … no F-35 warplanes for free

Obama administration officials deny Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu came away from his marathon meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on November 11 with a pledged package of major incentives for a 90-day settlement construction freeze, DEBKAfile’s Jerusalem and Washington sources report. The scale of US benefits as presented by the prime minister to Israel’s security and foreign affairs cabinet November 13 and the full cabinet November 14 is described in Washington as misleading. According to that briefing, Washington was prepared to leave Jerusalem out of Israel’s second building moratorium on disputed territory and offered to let Israel have a second batch of 30 F-25 stealth warplanes free of charge, in addition to the first 20 Israel had already purchased. Our US sources deny Clinton extended any such far-reaching benefits at their meeting and agreed to nothing beyond US political support and diplomatic guarantees . . . Netanyahu was pushed up against the wall by being caught out assuring the cabinet of more than he can deliver, a gambit he attempted for the sake of overcoming the objections of most of his ministers to a second building freeze in the hope that the Obama [administration] would be forthcoming after the event …

[Editor's Note: The forthcoming Middle Eastern war will be far more destructive than previous clashes, and the prophetic ramifications are addressed in the DVD entitled American Magog. Although prophecy figures have for decades loudly claimed that Russia is the "Gog" figure of Ezekiel 38, Christian Media has categorically predicted an American identification is appropriate, and this understanding has been in print since 1992. For details on the American Magog DVD, see LINK.]

[These stories, and much more, are part of today's news at ChristianMediaDaily.com]

Netanyahu seeks support for U.S. plan to halt settlement construction

JERUSALEM — Despite seemingly premature congratulations from President Barack Obama, Israel’s prime minister was scrambling Monday to secure enough Cabinet votes to pass a US proposal to halt West Bank settlement construction for 90 days, aimed at restarting peace talks with the Palestinians. Benjamin Netanyahu is under heavy pressure to move forward with the plan, which could lead to critical negotiations on Israel’s final borders with a future Palestinian state. Although Israeli officials say the plan includes an unprecedented gift of 20 stealth warplanes to Israel, Netanyahu faces opposition from hardliners inside his coalition government who oppose limits on settlement construction in principle, and fear it will create pressure for further concessions. Palestinians didn’t embrace the plan either, since the proposed building freeze wouldn’t include East Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital, and Israel would be rewarded for what they see as a minimal gesture. It appeared increasingly unlikely, however, that both sides, wary of upsetting Obama, would risk turning down the package. Officials said Netanyahu’s 15-member Security Cabinet – a grouping of senior Cabinet ministers – would soon meet to vote on the proposal, possibly as early as Wednesday …

Iran’s Baghdad feat will force U.S. to engage Hizballah, Hamas

Iyad Allawi – whose al Iraqiya party, won Iraq’s general election last April but last week lost the premiership to the pro-Iranian incumbent Nouri al-Malaki – was forced to admit Friday, November 12 that “the concept of power-sharing in Iraq was dead now. For Iraq” he said, “there will be tensions and violence, probably.” That day, too, DEBKAfile‘s sources report, Hassan Nasrallah told a closed meeting of his Lebanese Hizballah activists that what happened in Baghdad is destined for Beirut. He was underlining the new reality in the Middle East where Iran and its allies are beating the West out in one crisis after another, forcing pro-US and pro-Saudi political forces to come to terms with antagonists sponsored by Tehran and serving its interests rather than those of Washington. No one in the region buys the proposition that the Obama administration can count as a successful feat the Baghdad power-sharing deal. It may terminate the eight-month stalemate during which Iraq had no government, but it also brought into the al Maliki administration the anti-American radical Shiite Sadrists, whose affairs are run from a party headquarters in Iran … [emphasis added]

[Editor's Note: The US continues to attempt to forge a treaty between the Palestinians and Israel in an effort to defuse potential Palestinian participation in the inevitable clash with Iran - and Syria. These conflicts are "inevitable" because the Scriptures predict the destruction of Damascus and Iran (Persia in the Gog-Magog accounts). It's interesting to note that Egypt is a participant in the talks, yet Egypt is conspicuously absent from the assembly of nations documented in Ezekiel's famous prophecy. An outline of these events is found in our CD set Gog And Magog LINK.]

[These stories, and much more, are part of today's news at ChristianMediaDaily.com]