[Today's Prayer] In the face of Iran's harsh crackdown on anti-government protests... Iranian clerics and intellectuals claim that the regime has reached its limits

On the 19th (local time), the British current-affairs weekly The Economist reported that amid a hardline, bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, a view is spreading among Iran’s domestic elite that the regime is no longer sustainable.

According to The Economist, 14 reform-minded clerics and intellectuals in Iran said in a statement released the previous day that “the rulers have reached their limits by violently suppressing civil society,” adding that “unless the regime embarks on fundamental and peaceful reforms, even greater change will eventually follow.”

In particular, The Economist reported that at least one of the clerics who signed the statement argued that “Khamenei should be put on trial for responsibility for massacres carried out by the state.”

In this regard, a source who frequently contacts Tehran officials was quoted by The Economist as saying, “(The regime) has crossed the line. The current situation is no longer sustainable.”

Another expert with acquaintances in Iran said, “Iran has gone through this kind of crisis many times before, but the problems have never been fundamentally resolved,” adding, “The very ideology of governance in Iran is reaching its limits.”

In particular, dissatisfaction with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is reportedly continuing within Iran.

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Some also claim that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and regular army forces that support the Khamenei regime are themselves in an unstable situation.

The IRGC is believed to have about 170,000 troops, while the regular army has about 400,000, but because most of them are entangled in complex interests in terms of religious beliefs and economic benefits, it is difficult to expect them to act as a unified force.

There is also analysis that Iran’s military command system was already severely damaged by last year’s “12-day war” between Iran and Israel.

Furthermore, The Economist analyzed that some IRGC commanders may choose “self-preservation” over loyalty to the regime.

One source told The Economist, “The IRGC is loyal to Iran, not to Khamenei.”

Source: Yonhap News

Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13)

As the Iranian government’s hardline, bloody suppression of anti-government protests continues, voices are growing that unless the regime moves toward peaceful reform, it has reached its limits and will no longer be able to endure.

God, as the Iranian government has violently suppressed anti-government protests and the death toll has surpassed 10,000, many Iranians are enraged by the regime’s brutal and atrocious methods that have produced countless casualties. As the Iranian government continues inhumane acts—demanding tens of millions of won as a body release fee from bereaved families who come to retrieve their loved ones’ remains, and even raiding hospitals to shoot protesters—cause this government to lose its power and to confess its sins before the cross.

Even in this situation, many Iranian souls are coming out into the streets to continue protesting, knowing they may die. As the Iranian people lay down their lives to come into the streets to set right a broken nation and reclaim stolen freedom, let them now be reborn as those who lay down their lives for Jesus, who is the truth, and for the gospel, and who are loyal to the eternal Kingdom of God.

As the forces that support the regime are also unstable and the military command system has been severely damaged, making it difficult for the regime to sustain itself, make the global Church become one that prays with a grieving heart for Iran and for the Iranian souls who are losing their lives within it. Through united prayer offered together, let the false powers that have held the Iranian people for so long be brought down, and let the Kingdom of God come upon the Iranian people.

And so, let Iran become a nation that resolves to devote its life entirely for Jesus and the gospel, and that completes the Kingdom of God in the last days!