With the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the country faces a power vacuum. Iran’s leaders are currently scrambling to seize control, with each one eager to wear the supreme mantle.
One specific cleric vying for power could spell serious danger for Christians there.
Three of Iran’s top leaders, those who survived the initial wave of airstrikes that killed the Ayatollah Khamenei, are the only members of the country’s leadership council.
They are: President Masoud Pezeshkian, Chief Justice Hossein Mohseni Eje’i, and Senior Cleric, Guardian Council member Ayatollah Alireza Arafi. Arafi stood close to the former supreme leader.
“He has had a particular interest in Christianity, which he calls a rival and a competition to Islam. And he has expressed worries about Christian converts and underground churches more than your average cleric,” explained Iranian dissident Shay Khatiri.
Khatiri is the vice president and senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute.
“If you’re a Christian, you should be very excited that finally I can come on the ground, go to church if the regime falls. But if the regime survives and if Arafi, the interim member of the interim council, becomes the supreme leader, that would be very worrisome.”
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It’s troubling because the potential crackdown on Christians could be even more severe than it was under Ayatollah Khamenei.
Also of concern to Christians is Mojtaba Khamenei, the late supreme leader’s son, who is likely to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Khatiri says that despite Khamenei’s oppressive policies, Christianity has spread extensively in the country, while the number of adherents to Islam has declined.
“The highest estimate was that up to 3 million converts live in Iran, convening in underground churches, which you just cannot admire the courage of these people enough,” Khatiri said.
He warns that when the U.S. bombing ends, 90 million Iranians could be swept into a catastrophic civil war. That includes Christians.
“You could have a scenario that Iran is dismembered, with some portion of the territory held by remnants of the regime and even asking for foreign militaries like Russia or China or whoever, to enter to help them,” he explained.
Imagine a balkanized country, where Turkey moves into Iranian territory; Israel and the Arab states, now united against Iran, could end up turning on each other, with each fighting for a piece of Persia.
