Setting Up The Next War

Those of us who study Bible prophecy know all about the war of Gog and Magog described in Ezekiel 38-39 but I believe we’re seeing how nations listed there are rising to prominence just as predicted. One of those nations that had more than a few theologians scratching their heads is Sudan which is seen by many as the nation of Cush. How can a nation in Africa join with the coalition listed against Israel in this war coming next against Israel. In an article from the Gatestone Institute we see how it all could fit:

An exclusive video circulating among intelligence sources shows a Sudanese army officer addressing a crowd during the country's ongoing civil war. In the speech, he openly threatens Israel and expresses solidarity with Iran against the United States and its allies. At first glance, such rhetoric might appear to be the product of wartime propaganda. It is not. The video reveals something far more troubling: the survival of Iran's ideological and proxy doctrine inside elements aligned with Sudan's armed forces. Even as Iran faces economic strain and growing regional pressure, the strategic model it developed over decades — cultivating ideological allies and proxy networks — continues to spread.

The article mentions a civil war in Sudan to set things up:

The conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has devastated Sudan. Sudan's war is no longer simply a domestic struggle for power. The war instead has increasingly been intersecting with a broader geopolitical contest stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.

One of the sides decided to link arms with Iran in 2023:

As the war dragged on, Sudan's military leadership sought external partners capable of providing weapons and strategic support. Iran emerged as one of those partners. In 2023, after years of estrangement, Sudan restored diplomatic relations with Iran. Since then, reports have indicated that Iranian drones and other military technologies have been supplied to Sudan's armed forces to help them regain battlefield momentum. For Iran, Sudan represents far more than a wartime client.

And right now, Iran could use all the allies it can, not for now, but for the future.

More Than A Tactical Area

Sudan is a strategic nation for anyone wanting to control the Middle East:

Sudan occupies critical strategic positions in the Middle East–Africa security architecture. Its coastline stretches along the Red Sea — one of the most vital maritime corridors in the world. Nearly 12% of global trade moves through these waters. Influence along this route would give Iran leverage far beyond Sudan itself.

But Sudan is being groomed by Iran for more than that:

The most revealing aspect of the emerging Sudan–Iran relationship may not be the weapons transfers. It is the ideological rhetoric appearing within factions aligned with Sudan's military coalition.

The speech captured in the video echoes themes familiar across Iran's regional network: hostility toward Israel, denunciations of the United States and appeals framed in Islamist ideological terms. These narratives are central to what Iran calls the "Axis of Resistance" — a loose network of movements and militias aligned with Tehran's geopolitical ambitions. From Hezbollah in Lebanon to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria and the Houthi movement in Yemen, Iran has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to cultivate partners capable of advancing its strategic objectives without large-scale Iranian military deployment.

Iran is wielding influence wherever it can:

This model — the creation of ideological allies embedded within fragile states — has proven one of Tehran's most effective instruments of influence. Sudan now risks becoming another node in that network.

And it’s not the first time that Iran used Sudan:

This possibility is not unprecedented. During the 1990s Sudan served as a hub for Islamist movements and maintained close military cooperation with Iran under the regime of Omar al-Bashir. Iranian weapons, training and logistical networks operated through Sudanese territory during that period. Although Sudan later distanced itself from Iran in order to rebuild relations with Western and Gulf governments, the institutional and ideological legacy of those years never completely disappeared. The current civil war is creating conditions that could allow those networks to reemerge.

It appears that Sudan coming against Israel and joining Iran in doing so isn’t such a farfetched concept at all. And a little video tells us that the time for that is closer than anyone thinks:

An Iran-aligned ideological current emerging inside a national army positioned along the Red Sea would represent a major shift in the region's security landscape. The video, showing a Sudanese officer praising Iran and threatening the United States and Israel, should therefore not be dismissed as mere propaganda. The video may instead be offering a glimpse into the ideological forces shaping parts of Sudan's military coalition. Iran's power may rise or fall. Sanctions may weaken its economy. Regional alliances may shift -- but Tehran's most enduring weapon has never been its army. It has been its doctrine. Sudan's civil war may now be giving that doctrine a dangerous new battlefield.

The Bible Prophecy Connection

We simply don’t know how Iran will look in a month or so and if the regime does fall, the hope is that the people will rise up and choose a leader who will be supportive of Israel and the US. How Iran will once again rise up to attack Israel as seen in the war of Gog and Magog isn’t clear, however there will be a time when it will happen. And countries like modern Libya, Sudan, Russia, Turkey, and maybe Germany will be a part of it. It’s a prophetic puzzle whose pieces don’t seem to fit from generation to generation, but now we see how the African nation of Sudan does fit. Even secular sources see how it can and they don’t make their speculations based on Bible prophecy. Ezekiel, all the way back in the Old Testament saw how it would happen because God, who exists outside of time, revealed it to him. And God wants to speak to us prophetically if we let Him. He surely knows how our lives will turn out if He can see how nations rise and fall. I pray we let Him lead and guide us now and in the future as well.