North Korea’s foreign affairs minister Lee Su-young shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during his visit to Iran for 53rd annual meeting of Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization in Tehran, Iran on September 14, 2014.

As North Korea steals news headlines, don’t forget its Middle East counterpart!

North Korea’s number two official and president of the presidium of the rogue regime’s Supreme Assembly, Kim Yong Nam, is currently wrapping up a 10-day visit to Iran. As North Korea is slapped with international sanctions and threats, its affinity to the Iranian regime is becoming increasingly apparent. So too is Iran’s desire to learn from its Korean compadres and prepare for its own nuclear showdown with the West.

A Radioactive Relationship?

Kim Jong-un has had a busy year of outreaches to his counterparts in Tehran. The Trumpet has repeatedly warned about this budding relationship and its nuclear implications. With Kim’s missiles pointed to the Pacific, much of the world has forgotten North Korea’s outreaches to the Middle East.

The relationship between the two regimes is founded on a volatile concoction of missile technology and a hatred of the West. As such, we have seen a steady increase in collaboration as both their weapon stockpiles and hatred grow.

Earlier this year, the chairman of the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly, Choe Thae-bok, visited Iran for the Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada.

Choe arrived early to speak with Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larinjani. They took the time to announce plans for a closer partnership between their nations. Not that the two weren’t already close.

The relationship has been growing since the 1980s, when Iran traded in oil with the Koreans. More recently, the economic ties have given way to a military bond. This is evidenced by the fact that many of Iran’s missiles are based on North Korean designs.

And not just missiles. On May 2, Iran attempted to launch a cruise missile from a “midget” submarine in the Strait of Hormuz. The only other nation that uses these mini submarines is, you guessed it, North Korea.

Freed from much of its former sanctions and now with a steady income, Iran has been able to make leaps and bounds with its weapons development. “In the past, we would see things in North Korea, and they would show up in Iran,” Fox News quoted Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey as saying. “In some recent years, we’ve seen some small things appear in Iran first and then show up in North Korea, and so that raises the question of whether trade—which started off as North Korea to Iran—has started to reverse.”

Last February, two nuclear experts warned that “Iran is steadily making progress towards a nuclear weapon and is doing so via North Korea,” in a paper published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

“From the 1990s onward, dozens—perhaps hundreds—of North Korean scientists and technicians apparently worked in Iran in nuclear and ballistic facilities,” the authors wrote. As further evidence of collusion, the authors said the Syrian nuclear reactor that was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in 2007 was constructed by North Korea and heavily financed by Iran.

A Test Run for Tehran

During Kim Yong Nam’s visit to Iran, military and nuclear weapons talk won’t be the only topic of conversation. Dealing with Donald Trump is likely weighing heavily on Kim Yong Nam’s mind, as well as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s. No doubt the Iranians are watching to see how America reacts when a rogue dictatorship starts throwing its nuclear weight around.

As the Daily News reported, “While North Korea tests the system by wagging its rogue nuclear power, Iran wants to know how the globe reacts. And this observation isn’t happening in a vacuum, as Iran, North Korea and the rest of their friends take notes on how their axis can hoodwink our allies.”

With a North Korean Embassy now operating in Tehran, the two nations clearly have a mind for a more united front against the West.

That is why Kim’s threats are so important. Isolation from the international community, a common foe, and a common interest in nuclear weapons should have the world alarmed!

What if, as many are now suggesting, Iran is living vicariously through North Korea—using the regime as a testing site not only for nuclear weapons but diplomatic conflict with the West? What if North Korea is Iran’s guinea pig?

Consider the ramifications if the theory is true and Iran and North Korea are sharing nuclear and missile technology. A Korean missile that can hit large parts of America could, if launched from Iran, reach easily into Europe, and even start encroaching on the U.S. coastline!

And Iran, unlike North Korea, is driven by a belief that nuclear war will bring its 12th imam! Iran wants to use the bomb. The Trumpet has repeatedly warned that it will be the Middle East that provides the spark to a nuclear World War iii, not Asia.

That isn’t to say that Kim couldn’t exact terrible suffering in the world, but the real trigger for World War iii is going to come from Iran.

You can read about this in our booklet The King of the South. You can also watch the short video below.

Prophecy in your Bible does discuss a world afflicted by nuclear warfare, and it discusses the primary players. If you are fascinated and concerned by what you see in the news, be sure to request a free copy of the aforementioned booklet. As dangerous as North Korea might be, Iran—as the trigger for the fulfillment of many astounding Bible prophecies—is the greater threat by far.