Iran is Ripe for Revolution: CBN Christian World News

The Iranian people are tired of the Islamic Regime. In this CBN Christian World News clip, the son of the former Shah speaks with George Thomas to explain why he is on a mission to replace the radical Islamic regime with a secular democracy, and why he believes it can happen. Plus Wendy Griffith hears from Lana Silk [at 5:40] how Iran’s underground church is flourishing in house churches despite persecution from the regime.

Iran is at the heart of the conflict in the Middle East right now. But while its leaders support attacks against Israel and the West, the people of Iran are hungry for change.

The Iranian regime is losing legitimacy

Interviewed by CBN’s George Thomas, the eldest son of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, believes that the current regime is weaker than ever and the country is ripe for revolution. He is on a mission to replace the radical Islamic regime with a secular democracy.

45 years after the radical Muslim clerics took over the country, His Royal Highness says that the mullahs of Tehran are weaker than ever before and have lost their legitimacy in the eyes of a majority of Iranians.

When you lose your legitimacy, whether it’s religious legitimacy or political legitimacy, then you’re simply holding on by sheer repression. When you have a regime that is completely delegitimized, when you have people who no longer believe in the system, even if they did at some point and they want out, that makes these systems vulnerable.

Case in point, the 2022 nationwide protests that followed the murder of Mahsa Amini, detained by religious police for allegedly not properly wearing her mandatory hijab. Iranian security forces killed more than 500 protesters and imprisoned some 20,000 people.

Iranians are ready for revolution

Pahlavi says this clearly shows Iranians are ready to sacrifice for revolution. The regime’s own figures demonstrate that at least 73% of the population want another form of government, but an open polling would likely reveal an even have a much higher number.

In 1979, as heir to the throne, Pahlavi was in the US training to be a fighter pilot when Muslim radical leaders forced his father to relinquish the monarchy, sending the entire family into exile. Pahlavi says the aftermath led to an Islamic-run regime that would devastate his ancestral homeland, where today 60% of the people live below the poverty line.

Iran is central to the Middle East conflict

Under the mullah’s reign, Iran has also become a leading state sponsor of terrorism and the root cause of instability in the Middle East and beyond. It finances Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, all in its proxy wars and of course it’s all networks of activists that they have that are doing the bidding of the regime in the outside world, even in Western capitals. Despite Iranian proxy attacks on US troops in the Middle East, acceleration of its nuclear uranium enrichment program and funding of Hezbollah and other terror groups, Pahlavi cannot understand why the Biden administration continues to keep billions of dollars flowing to the terror regime.

Iranians are disillusioned with Islam

In response, CBN’s Wendy Griffith asked our Lana Silk about the spiritual dynamics today in Iran.

When asked how the people of Iran’s dissatisfaction with their leaders is affecting their faith in Islam, she said:

Well, we have to remember that the entire Islamic theocracy that is today in Iran was founded on Islamic ideology. The people who brought it in had this idealistic view of the purity, the breakaway from greed and fraud that this regime would bring. And of course, they’ve been disillusioned by that. Not only that, but right from the outset Khomeini promised that his agenda was to bring the fundamentals of his Islamic Iran to the entire world. And we can see what’s happened to the greater Middle East and to Iran as a result of that. So the people are paying the price for their governments and they associate that with Islam.

How fast is the underground church in Iran growing?

“It’s growing incredibly fast. Some would say it’s the fastest growing church in the world. I’ve heard figures such as 20% growth rate per year. What we do know is that it’s growing and it’s healthy. And Iranians are looking for an alternative because at their heart, Iranians are not secular people. They are spiritual people. They believe in God. They believe in a creator and they want relationship with him. They’ve tried it with Islam. They’ve seen what it’s done to their lives and they’re looking for something better and they’re finding Jesus.”

What impact are believers having on Iranian society?

“Huge impact because you have to consider the trauma that Iranians are facing today. They are oppressed from every corner. Rates of depression, addiction, prostitution, suicide, mental health are at catastrophe levels. And the Christians are the ones who carry peace in this turmoil. So people around them want to know, how is it that you are this way? How is it that you are steady? Where are you rooting yourself? And so of course the answer becomes Jesus.”

For the full interview, watch the video at the top of this page.

Originally published on: CBN Christian World News