These Last Days News - March 16, 2026
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The Iranian Regime under Mojtaba Khamenei: Religious-Apocalyptic Radicalization for a Violent Takeover of the Sunni World Eliminating Israel, and Advancing the Appearance of the Mahdi, the Shi'ite Messiah...

Veronica - And I can see now Jesus and Our Lady are going high up into the sky, and there's forming directly over Our Lady's statue, high in the sky—it is a cross, a very large cross. The handle, though, of a . . . dagger—it looks like a dagger, a knife. It's a strange-looking dagger with a loop at the bottom, like. It's a symbol. And Jesus is nodding.
    Jesus - "You will understand, My child, soon."
    Veronica - Yes, it is a, like a saber. Gee, it, it's a very strange-looking, dagger-like saber, with a cross on a handle. Like—it's not the kind that you see—it looks almost like Arabian or something. I can't explain it—like a very strange-looking Arabic, or something. I don't know where I have seen that before, but it's a very odd-looking type of dagger-like sword, with a hook on the end of it, though. That's strange. Oh, now it's beginning to fade; I can't see it anymore. - December 24, 1979

MIDEAST
"Wars are a punishment for man's sins. Already your sons are being sent to be there with the invasion in the Mideast. Is this what you want, My children? Can you not give your prayers and acts of reparation for those who have no one to pray for them? They are all Our sheep and We wish that they would be gathered into a holy land. The word 'holy' strikes a chord of misery, My child; I have no way to explain but to tell you, misery." - Our Lady, May 25, 1983

The above Messages from Our Lady were given to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, New York. Read more

Memri.org reported on March 13, 2026:

By Ayelet Savyon

Introduction

The Iranian regime's appointment of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei,[1] the son of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in March 2026, under pressure from the IRGC with which he has been closely affiliated for years, marks the triumph of the radical messianic-apocalyptic stream in the Iranian establishment.

This ideology, led by figures such as Ayatollah Mahdi Mirbagheri, and before that by Ayatollah Taqi Mohammad Mesbah Yazdi (d. 2021), as well as by politicians from the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability (FIRS, Jebhe-ye Paydari) and younger-generation IRGC officers, views seizing power as a means and an operational stage in advancing the coming of the Mahdi, the Twelfth Hidden Imam and the Shi'ite Messiah.

At the core of this view is a militant interpretation of the historic 680 CE Battle of Karbala in Iraq, in which the followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib were defeated and massacred by the Sunni commander Yazid ibn Muawiya. According to this world view, Iran's current struggle against the Sunni Arab states is seen as continuation of the struggle against the Sunni "usurpers" and their allies in the West, that is, the U.S. and Israel.

The Battle of Karbala, the founding myth of Shi'a Islam, is not just an historical event for the radical apocalyptic stream in Iran – it is a real-time work plan for taking control of the Islamic world. For them, Mojtaba Khamenei's taking power is not simply the dynastic continuity of a family that is worthy of leadership, but the rectification of an historic wrong that will restore sovereignty to the legitimate descendants of the Prophet Mohammad and avenge the Shi'te imams who were killed at Karbala. Mojtaba's ascent is considered by them as the moment when these legitimate descendants return to lead not just Iran but the entire Islamic ummah, displacing the Sunni leadership that they perceive to be the "modern Yazid." This is in effect a revival of the historic struggle for power between the Sunni and the Shi'a.

Mojtaba Khamenei's rise marks Iran's transition from a country run according to relatively pragmatic geopolitical considerations to one controlled by a apocalyptic theocratic military apparatus. In such a situation, the enemy is religiously defined and the struggle is not only against Israel or the U.S. ("the Great Satan" and "the Little Satan"), but against any entity perceived as a "modern Yazid" – that is, direct confrontation with the Sunni world. This radical-apocalyptic stream perceives military conflict as a test of faith, in which casualties among Muslim soldiers or civilians are considered martyrdom in the path of Imam Hussein at Karbala. According to it, any military victory over the Sunni states and Israel proves the justness of the cause and of Shi'a belief, and war is the only way Islam can be purged of Western and Sunni-Wahhabi influence and the world can be prepared for the Mahdi's comprehensive Islamic rule.

Under Mojtaba's leadership, Iran is positioning itself as the "beating heart" of a religious empire that aspires to transform Shi'a Islam from a persecuted minority into the only prevailing religious and political current in the Muslim world (see below the 2016 MEMRI report on the "Umm al-Qura Doctrine.")

Mojtaba Khamenei And The Ideology Of The Mahdi

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is closely affiliated with IRGC intelligence circles and with the younger generation of IRGC officers. He is an apocalyptic ideologue associated with the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability (FIRS), that considers the Islamic regime and the IRGC as a military and political instrument whose purpose is to prepare the ground for the reappearance of the Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam and the Shi'ite messiah. In this framework, goals such as the destruction of Israel are not only political objectives but religious‑apocalyptic requirements to speed redemption.

It should be noted that in recent years there has been an increase in apocalyptic indoctrination among the younger generation of IRGC commanders.

Mojtaba is considered the architect of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential wins in 2005 and 2009, having harnessed the Basij and IRGC to ensure his election. Following the 2009 election, defeated candidate and former Majlis speaker Mehdi Karroubi published an open letter accusing Mojtaba of participating in election fraud. This sparked the Green Movement protests across the country that were brutally repressed by Mojtaba, who operated behind the scenes to ensure that they were silenced.

Mojtaba and Ahmadinejad share a radical apocalyptic ideology that has sidelined the Iranian regime's relatively moderate religious establishment.[2] Ahmadinejad was known for his speeches about the Mahdi – including stating that the Mahdi was directing his government meetings and that during his 2005 address to the U.N. he had sensed the Mahdi's aura of light. In Ahmadinejad, Mojtaba found a partner in implementing this ideological revolution within Iran's state institutions.

The increase in apocalyptic outlook in the regime and the IRGC has been criticized in establishment circles. Mojtaba's uncle Hadi Khamenei, brother of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had criticized the latter for legitimizing these circles (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 3044, Brother of Iranian Leader Khamenei Warns Against Second Islamic Revolution by Messianic Circles Led by Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, June 18, 2010).

However, the relationship between Mojtaba and Ahmadinejad ran aground in 2011, when the latter challenged Leader Khamenei's authority by claiming to have a personal relationship with the Mahdi. Mojtaba, loyal to his father and to protecting the strength of the regime, became one of Ahmadinejad's most bitter opponents, leading a move to ostracize him and declaring his associates "a deviant stream."

Iranian Regime Officials Close To Mojtaba

Mojtaba is pushing to strengthen and advance this radical Shi'ite religious identity in the Iranian Islamic regime, as an apocalyptic alternative to the existing world order. He is close to extremist clerics who advocate a radical interpretation of Mahdism (belief in the imminent appearance of the Mahdi), according to which Iran should take the lead in a militant and uncompromising approach to the Sunni world and Israel, as part of the apocalyptic war that will precede the Mahdi’s arrival.

Other senior ayatollahs close to Mojtaba who have expressed an apocalyptic worldview include Ayatollah Taqi Mohammad Mesbah Yazdi (1935–2021) and his successor Ayatollah Mohammad Mahdi Mirbagheri (b. 1961), an Assembly of Experts member and director of the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy in Qom. Ayatollah Mirbagheri maintains that there is a need for an extensive confrontation with the "infidel" West in order for the Mahdi to appear. War is moral, he said, and even mandatory, in order to establish a "new Islamic civilization" (see MEMRI TV Clip No. 7399, Senior Iranian Ayatollah Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri: In Order for the Hidden Imam to Reappear We Must Engage in "Widespread Fighting" with the West, July 31, 2019 and Special Dispatch No. 3845, Iranian Ayatollah Affirms Legitimacy of Suicide Operations, Approves Killing Israeli Civilians –Including Children, May 27, 2011).

Significant figures in this circle also include Mahmoud Nabivian, Ali Reza Panahian, Hassan Abbasi, Ali Akbar Raefipour, and Sadegh Mahsouli, and others. Below are MEMRI TV clips of their statements over the years.

Mahmoud Nabavian, Majlis National Security Committee deputy chairman, said on May 29, 2024 that "the criterion for being a Muslim is, first of all, to fight America and Israel." He added that the Islamic Revolution is meaningless without resistance to Israel. Below are more of his statements over the years from MEMRI TV.

You can find the rest of the article with many vidoes and pictures: here.

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ARABS
Veronica - Now Michael is turning back, and he's pointing over to the left side of the flagpole, beyond the left side. And I see . . . oh, I see a terrible, terrible fighting, a war. I don't believe it's in the United States, because these people look like they're Egyptians, and Arabs, and dark-skinned people. And now, though, as the—I hear the great roar of bombs. 
     I'm looking up, and the sky's becoming very lighted. And I am seeing thousands and thousands of people marching. But they look like Chinese, or Mongolian. No, they're—I believe they're Chinese; they're Asiatic. They're marching across the land, and they're boarding some kind of transport. They're going onto the water. Oh, it's a great War. Oh! Oh!
     Now Michael is coming over to the left side of the flagpole, and he's looking down.
St. Michael - "My child, we have asked you to send the word to mankind that they will read in the Book of life, the Bible, the words given to them that will fulfill the prophecy of the latter days, Apocalypse. You are living the days of the Revelations. Read them and be knowledgeable, and you will not be caught without the light." - July 8, 1974

COALITION
Veronica - Our Lady is pointing over now to the right side of the flagpole. The sky is lighting up. And I am looking into a mapped area that looks like—yes, it is Africa. And I can see.....I'm looking over from the African part of the map, and I can see the other countries of Egypt and Israel and, Oh! Now Our Lady is saying:
Our Lady - "A coalition, My child, of the dark races. The world is fast heading to the culmination of the Armageddon." - March 18, 1975

The Virgin Mary's Bayside Prophecy Books are Now Available in E-book Version. Click Here Now!

When you pray the Holy Rosary, you have Our Lady's hand in yours. When you pray the Holy Rosary, you have the power of God in your hands. Start now!  Click here...

Our Lady of the Roses Awesome Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/Bayside/ These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D88 - Martyrdom   PDF
D104 - Invasion   PDF
D136 - Visions of the Great War: The Mideast  PDF
D156 - Terrorism PDF
D158 - America the Beautiful PDF
D266 - Persecution  PDF

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