By Katie O’Malley

Iran (MNN) — Over the weekend, a top clerical council in Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei as the nation’s next supreme leader. 

Mojtaba is the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader, who was assassinated on February 28 by Israel and the United States. 

The new Khamenei has never run for office or been voted for publicly, yet he has been influential within the Iranian regime for years. What should the world expect from him? Lana Silk with Transform Iran says we can expect more of the same. 

Transform Iran has been praying for a righteous change of leadership within Iran. But Silk says frankly, “Mojtaba is not it. He wants the same things his father wanted. He is driven by the same ideological goals.”

Iran’s new supreme leader has close ties within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This paramilitary group has been instrumental in crushing dissent in Iran.

“This [appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei] is not the answer to our prayers,” Silk continues. “But the path to the fall of this regime may be discord in the higher echelons, and if Mojtaba can’t unite the different factions within the leadership of Iran, then we will see a weaker government, which may well pave the way to real change.” 

If you don’t know how to pray through these uncertain times, pray for Iran and the Middle East in the ways Silk suggests:

“We continue to pray for the same things for Iran. We want God’s will, His mercy, covering all the many millions caught up in this conflict right across the Middle East, and a righteous transition of leadership.”

Pray for a powerful movement of God’s Spirit among Iran’s leaders and its people.

Header photo of Tehran, Iran, courtesy of Hamid Mohammad Hossein Zadeh Hashemi via Unsplash. 

Inset image of the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, courtesy of Engin Akyurt/Pexels.

Originally published on: Mission Network News