Understand The Times, International

Iran�s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered all of the Islamic regime�s armed forces to prepare for war, WND learned Tuesday. According to a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit, the regime believes Israel is on the verge of an attack, which could then draw America into the conflict.

Hundreds of ballistic missiles are ready to be launched against Israel and U.S. military bases in the region, the source said, and all terror groups that have long been positioned in Europe and America are ready to act should war break out.

WND reported exclusively on Feb. 28 about a warning by the regime�s armed forces deputy chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, that al-Qaida operatives will soon attack America and Europe, even as a second terror team sent by the Islamic regime is about to enter the U.S.

Regime officials have been talking of an imminent coming of the last messiah, advising loyalists to prepare the conditions for such an event. Shiites believe the 12th Imam, Mahdi, will descend to Earth at the time of Armageddon.

Recently, Ali Saidi, Khamenei�s representative to the Revolutionary Guards, told the forces that the Coming is close and that, �The fourth way (of bringing about the arrival of the Mahdi) is by preparing upheaval in the Middle East, and so long as there is not total upheaval in Middle East, then the Imam of the Era (Mahdi) will not arrive.� Ayatollah Khazali, a member of the Assembly of Experts, the body that chooses the supreme leader, told the regime�s magazine Pasdar Islam (the Guardian of Islam) that the Coming is close and that all enemies of Islam will be destroyed.

�Rest assured that Israel will be destroyed,� he said. �America is also getting weaker every day� our revolution was the preliminary step for the Coming.�

�As long as the U.S. refuses to give up support for the Zionist regime and avoids leaving the Persian Gulf, relations with the U.S. will not be resumed,� Naqdi said, according to Fars News Agency, a media outlet run by the Revolutionary Guards. �The U.S. today is at the peak of its enmity toward Iran.�

In a sign that time was running out, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday warned that Iran�s nuclear program is reaching �the red line,� a reference to the time when Israel might take action.