The Fars News Agency reports: “Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani strongly criticized recent statement issued by Republicans in the US House of Representatives and their support for possible Israeli attack on Iran, but downplayed Tel Aviv’s courage to make any move against Iran.

Speaking in Iran’s northern province of Mazandaran, Larijani underlined that the statement labels Iranian government as an affront due to its nuclear weapons, announcing that the Zionist regime of Israel is entitled to using any means possible to face Iran.

‘Had the Zionist regime had necessary facilities and been dared enough to take any military action against Iran, it would not have had any need to any prescription,’ he added.

He noted that the US congressmen have in their statement explicitly announced that the Zionist regime is the US ally, sharing common interests and values with each other’s, whit their ties being far from a strategic link.

‘The Islamic Republic of Iran officials have times and again announced that the Zionist regime is the wayward child of the US. They should go and look for a nation in the Middle East not being resentful of the Zionist regime,’ the Iranian parliament speaker noted…” (God bless America and its lawmaker for standing with Israel. Our God Yahweh promises His blessing to those who love and protect Israel – Genesis 12:1-3; Psalm 115:12; Psalm 122:6.)

Haaretz reports: “The Syrian government advised the United States against interfering with a visit by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to Damascus, saying that the two countries ‘know better’ how to stabilize the Middle East.

Abdullah will hold talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Syrian capital before they travel together to Beirut to try to calm tension over a tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik Hariri.

U.S. State department official Philip Crowley said that Washington hoped Syria would play a constructive role in the region and would respond to the Saudi monarch’s concerns about Iranian ‘threats’ to Middle East stability.

‘Obviously, King Abdullah has played a significant leadership role in the region. So his prospective travel to Syria and to Lebanon is consistent with his search for peace,’ Crowley said.

A Syrian foreign ministry statement said the United States ‘has no right to define our ties with the countries of the region and interfere in the content of the talks the Saudi monarch will have in Damascus’.

‘Syria and Saudi Arabia… know better than others the interests of the people of the region and how to achieve them without outside interference and they are able to define their policies to achieve peace and stability in the region,’ the statement said… (Syria is undoubtedly unaware of Saudi Arabia’s position in the upcoming Mid East war. In Ezekiel 38:13 Sheba takes a stand against Israel, mentioned 18 times as being invaded. See Webster’s Dictionary – Sheba is Saudi Arabia.)

Voice of America News reports: “Iran’s Supreme Leader has reportedly issued a fatwah, or Islamic edict, demanding that people obey him as the earthly ‘deputy’ of both the Prophet Muhammad and Shi’ism’s mysterious 12th Imam. He also accused the U.S. and Britain of sowing division among Muslims and of fomenting the recent mosque bombing in Sistan-Baluchestan.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has created a stir after apparently issuing a religious edict claiming ultimate spiritual powers on Earth. Iranian media reported that he told followers that they must ‘obey him’ as the ‘representative of the Prophet Muhammad and [Shi’ism’s] 12th Imam on Earth.’

Iranian television also broadcast a communiqué by the Ayatollah claiming the United States and Britain were behind the suicide bombings at a Shi’ite mosque in Sistan-Baluchestan province. ‘All Muslims,’ he said, ‘must combat the evil and corrupt [powers] waging war on Earth.’…

His controversial claim to represent the Prophet Muhammad and the 12th Imam on Earth, followed strong, recent criticism by several Iranian religious leaders, questioning his policies. Mohsen Kadivar, an exiled Shi’ite cleric, went so far as to demand his ‘impeachment,’ recently.

University of Birmingham Professor Scott Lucas, who writes the popular Iran blog ‘Enduring America’ says Ayatollah Khamenei’s controversial fatwah could be a way of lashing out at those adversaries now attacking him.

‘It is the first time that Khamenei has specifically gone so far as to claim that kind of authority, and there is a theological debate as to whether this constitutes heresy, in the sense that some interpretations of Shia Islam say that no one can claim to represent the Prophet and the Imams on Earth,’ he said. ‘Khamenei, feeling pressure on a number of fronts, regarding his clerical and political authority, feels the need to assert, effectively, ‘You must obey me.’

But Professor Hilal Khashan of the American University of Beirut says Ayatollah Khamenei rules Iran under the Wilayat al Faqih principle, which does give him broad powers to represent Shi’ism’s Hidden or 12th Imam…

But Khashan notes many Shi’ites, who are not fundamentalists, do not believe in the Ayatollah Khamenei’s extraordinary powers on Earth, and that they frown on anyone claiming to represent the Imam. Lucas, says many top Iranian religious leaders are now questioning Supreme Leader Khamenei’s authority, amid a growing political and religious ferment…” (Thank God for intelligent Shia’s who reject Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, If he were the Mahdi, the messiah, he would be the one Ahmadinejad awaits and who leads him to annihilate all Jews. It won’t happen – the Judean -Christian God, Yahweh, states in Isaiah 56:5: I will give them [Israel] an everlasting name.)

Haaretz reports: “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were exaggerated in a fresh broadside at the United States just days after U.S. President Barack Obama voiced willingness to talk to Iran.

Well-known for his anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, the hardline populist Ahmadinejad also repeated his denial of the Holocaust, on which the consensus of historians is that six million Jews were exterminated by Nazi Germany.

Ahmadinejad said the Sept. 11 attacks with hijacked airliners on New York and Washington D.C. had been trumped up as an excuse for the United States to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.

Speaking at a Tehran conference, Ahmadinejad said there was no evidence that the death toll at New York’s World Trade Center, destroyed in the attacks, was as high as reported and said ‘Zionists’ had been tipped off in advance.

‘What was the story of Sept. 11? During five to six days, and with the aid of the media, they created and prepared public opinion so that everyone considered an attack on Afghanistan and Iraq as (their) right,’ he said in a televised speech.

No ‘Zionists’ were killed in the World Trade Center, according to Ahmadinejad, because ‘one day earlier they were told not go to their workplace’.

‘They announced that 3,000 people were killed in this incident, but there were no reports that reveal their names. Maybe you saw that, but I did not,’ he told a gathering of the Iranian news media…

Ahmadinejad accused the U.S. government of exercising more media censorship than anywhere in the world.

He had previously said the ‘9-11’ attacks were a ‘big fabrication’ and has rejected the historical record of the Holocaust. On Saturday, Ahmadinejad repeated his belief that the Holocaust had been invented to justify the creation of Israel.

‘They made up an event, the so-called Holocaust which was later laid as the basis for the innocence of a group,’ he said…” (I have waited to use this text until now. This stupid report deserves such a reprimand: II Peter 2:16 – “…the dumb ass speaking with a man’s voice forbade the madness of the prophet” [President].)

The Asia Times Online reports: “United States President Barack Obama has suffered a sharp drop in popularity in the Arab world over the past year, and Iran may be reaping the benefits, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries.

Only 20% of respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) now view the US president positively, compared to 45% who did so in the spring of 2009, according to the 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll conducted by Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution and the Zogby International polling firm.

Moreover, negative views of Obama have skyrocketed – from 23% to 62% – since the last poll was conducted in April-May 2009. The new findings were based on interviews with nearly 4,000 adults in the six countries between June 29 and July 20 this year.

When respondents were asked to name the world leader they admired most, Obama’s standing was less than 1%. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was cited most often (20%), followed by last year’s top pick, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (13%), and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (12%)…” (Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall”. God is opposed to pride – Proverbs 6: 16 – 18.)

The Australian reports: “Saddam Hussein’s former deputy Tariq Aziz has accused Barack Obama of ‘leaving Iraq to the wolves’ by pressing ahead with a withdrawal of US combat troops.

In an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister said the US should stay in the country to correct the mistakes it had made since the 2003 invasion.

‘We are all victims of America and Britain,’ he told the paper from his prison cell in Baghdad, in his first interview since he was captured shortly after the fall of Baghdad more than seven years ago.

‘They killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death.’

His comments came after Mr. Obama confirmed that the US would end its combat mission in Iraq as scheduled on August 31, despite figures showing July had been the deadliest month in the country for more than two years.

Aziz, the face of ex-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s regime on the world stage for many years, also said Iraq was now in a worse state than before the US-led invasion.

‘For 30 years Saddam built Iraq and now it is destroyed. There are more sick than before, more hungry,’ said Aziz.

‘The people don’t have services. People are being killed every day in the tens, if not hundreds.

‘I was encouraged when (Mr. Obama) was elected president, because I thought he was going to correct some of the mistakes of Bush. But Obama is a hypocrite. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves.’…” (If our President took time to promote and attend the Day of Prayer, his decisions might be wiser. Prayer changes things – Pray without ceasing – I Thessalonians 5:17. We must pray that our President makes better decisions especially in the light of the following two reports.)