This week a government supervisory body that monitors the press shut down three newspapers. Though no reasons were given for the closure of Farhang Ashdi Culture of Reconciliation and Arman Ideals, published in Tehran and Tahlil Rooz, The Day’s Analysis, published in Shiraz, all three were sympathetic to the Reformist cause. During the early years of President Khatami’s administration -1997-2005 – newspapers were given a lot more freedom. They especially challenged the role of the judiciary, and soon there was a backlash and the printed press became the central battlefield in the struggle between reformists and conservatives. Since then a number of journalists have been imprisoned, some suffering solitary confinement. As well as impacting Iran’s political life, this tight control of the press also means that the true situation regarding Christians rarely becomes public knowledge. The official line, followed by the press, is that there is freedom of religion for Christians. In reality this means there is limited freedom for Armenians and Assyrians to practise their faith using their own languages. There is no freedom for Iranian Muslims to practise Christianity using Persian.

Pray for

• Government to have wisdom when dealing with newspapers
• The true situation regarding the situation of Christians to be known
• People working on newspapers to hear the Gospel

On Thursday (1/10/09) the important talks between Iran’s delegation led by Said Jalilee and the five permanent UN members plus Germany got off to a good start. The parties agreed to meet again this month, and this week-end the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr Elbaradei is travelling to Tehran. Crucial to the talks progressing was Iran’s agreement to allow immediate inspection of the second enrichment site it is building near Qom. It was also very significant that Barack Obama has allowed direct talks with the Iranians who are keen to widen the discussions out to include all the security issues of the Middle East. This might well indicate that the historic offer they put on the table to the Bush administration in 2003 whereby they would accept Israel and drop all support for the Palestinians in return for the US involving Iran as a regional power, and ending all economic sanctions is still alive. Such an entente is something all Christians should pray towards, as it is God’s will that we live can live peacefully, not under the shadow of war.

Pray for

• All the negotiators involved in this issue to bring about an entente
• For wisdom in knowing where there can be compromise
• For war to be averted at all costs

President Ahmadinejad knows how to enrage the West. He again expressed his doubt about the holocaust on Friday in Tehran, guaranteeing that the US, Canada, and Israel, boycotted his speech to the UN in New York on Wednesday. And though now even Russia is joining the call for severe sanctions if Iran does not open up its nuclear programme to proper inspection, Ahmadinejad shows no signs of backing down. He is cutting a lonely figure on the world stage, as he often does in Iran. Apart from his commitment to a modest life-style, there is little in Ahmadinejad’s policies Christians would agree with. But it is important to pray for the man – and his family. Not much is known about Mrs Ahmadinejad. She is a graduate in mechanical engineering from Tehran University, and reportedly lectures like her husband. The couple have two sons, and a daughter. The older son, Mahdi, is a civil engineer like his father, married to the daughter of Esfandiar Mashai, a close advisor of the president. The younger son, Alireza is a student of mechanical engineering. Mr Ahmadinejad’s daughter is an electrical engineer; she married the conservative political activist Ahmad Khorshidi in 2006.

Pray for

• President Ahmadinejad.
• Mrs Ahmadinejad.
• Their two sons, and daughter, their son and daughter in law.

The temperature is rising over Iran’s nuclear policy. Hilary Clinton has insisted the Iranians answer US concerns over their nuclear programme; Russia, thought to be more friendly, has now said it will back sanctions if the issue is not dealt with; Nicholas Sarkozy has said he is certain Tehran is determined to build a bomb; and Israel has signaled its readiness to attack Iran to stop that happening. Back in Tehran the government line, supported by most Iranians, is the country has a right to develop nuclear power, but has no intention of making weapons. And the man who has to persuade the likes of Clinton and Sarkozy is the former university lecturer, Said Jalilee, Iran’s chief security negotiator,  who finds himself at the centre of the most potentially dangerous international crisis of recent years. On October 1st the US and Iran are due to have their first face to face meetings since Barack Obama called for ‘engagement’. Jalilee, and all the others round the table will need courage, as the only way to solve this conundrum will be some sort of compromise which will aggravate national pride, but in the long term will bring peace.

Pray for

• Said Jalilee to have wisdom and courage as he prepares for these crucial negotiations
• For all those involved to have a divine loathing for the misery of war
• For the difficulties of Iran and US’ past relationship to be left behind

Desmond Tutu, the retired Archbishop of Cape Town and passionate campaigner against apartheid, once told the prime-minister of segregated South Africa, Mr Botha, that he prayed for him and his minsters every day. It is unlikely that Christians will sympathise with the views of many in the new conservative cabinet of Iran’s Islamic Republic, but nevertheless, Archbishop Tutu’s example is a good one to follow. The most pressing item for the new cabinet’s agenda is the nuclear issue (see last’s week’s entry here), followed by how to respond to the massive disquiet over President Ahmadinejad’s election. So far it has been defiant: a more conciliatory response might serve them and their country better. With inflation running at 25% and unemployment at about 13%, the economy is another major issue.

Pray for

• New cabinet (for key names see Iran’s Present Leaders)
• Courage to serve all their citizens and not just their supporters
• To hear the message of Christ

Massive demonstrations, allegations of rape and killings in the prisons, and now there is going to be  a stormy discussion over President Ahmadinejad’s new cabinet, but all of this could easily become a sideshow as the international community concentrates its mind on Iran going ‘nuclear’. France and Germany are calling for tough sanctions, and this week Germany hosts a six nations meeting on the issue; and, most worrying of all are the reports that Israel is ready to launch a massive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities if given the green light by Washington. With China and Russia in the background, and seen to be more sympathetic to Iran, an attack by Israel could provoke a catastrophic meltdown causing suffering on a scale not seen since the Second World War. This is the real call for prayer that must never be forgotten.

Pray for:

•  Wisdom for Iran’s leaders: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei; President Ahmadinejad; Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and especially Saeed Jalilli, the chief nuclear negotiator.
• Wisdom for Israel’s leaders: President Netanyahu; Foreign Secretary Avignor Liebermann; Head of Armed Forces, General Gabi Ashkenazi.
• Wisdom for other leaders: President Obama (USA), Chairman Hu Jintao (China), President Medvedev (Russia), Prime Minister Brown (UK), Chancellor Merkel (Germany), President Sarkozy (France).

President Ahmadinejad has appointed his new cabinet, including three women, which once ratified by parliament will start work next month. The cabinet will be pretty hard-line especially as some of the key players have close links with the Revolutionary Guards. The new defence candidate, Ahmad Vahidi was the commander of the Revolutionary Qods force, responsible for foreign activities. Argentina has issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the bombing of the Jewish centre in Buenos Aries in 1995 which killed 85. The interior candidate, who will be responsible for the prisons Christians are brought to, was the former defence minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards who led units in Lebanon in the 1980’s. The candidate for the Minister of Commerce is Massoud Mirkazemi who was formerly a logistics chief for the Revolutionary Guards. Though these men and their colleagues would not be natural friends of Christians, still the most important work of believers is to pray for them.

Pray for:

• God’s hand on the final appointment of the new cabinet
• Wisdom for all Iran’s political leaders
• The new cabinet to have a kinder view of Christians and to understand it is not a Western religion.

On August 15^th Mahmoud Shahroudi stepped down as head of Iran’s judiciary after ten years. He has been replaced by 49 year old Sadeq Larijani. already a jurist in the Guardian Council, who is known to have a close relationship with the intelligence services and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. He lectures both at Qom and Revolutionary Guard bases on Islamic ideology and is a keen opponent of intellectuals like Abdulkarim Soroush who call for religion to be less central in government. The head of the judiciary has immense power. After the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamanei, Sadeq Larijani will have the final say on all the cases in the judicial system deemed to threaten the Islamic Republic –including the cases of Christians such as Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh. Sadeq Larijani comes from a powerful family. He is the son of Ayatollah Amoli and son in law of Ayatollah Khorasani, while he is also the brother of Ali Larijani, well known as Iran’s former negotiator on the nuclear issue and now the speaker of parliament.  His other brother, Mohammad Larihani is at present the deputy head of the judiciary. There is nothing in Sadeq Larijani’s background to indicate he will be moderate in his dealings with Christians…but prayer can change a man’s heart.

Pray for:

• The salvation of the whole Larijani extended family
• For Sadeq Larijani to love justice and mercy
• For the release of all those held unfairly

There is a definite lack of enthusiasm for President Ahmadinejad’s second term: hundreds of thousands took to the streets to complain as they thought he cheated; two former presidents, Hashem Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami have publicly opposed him; and even his backer, the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei has ordered him to sack his vice President while at the inauguration last week he refused to give Ahmadinejad his cheek to kiss, as he had four years ago. After some awkward hesitation, the Supreme leader allowed his shoulder to be touched. This lack of enthusiasm could be dangerous for the church, as historically weak governments tend to lash out at foreign threats to hide their problems. With Christianity being wrongly perceived as a ‘Western’ religion, this would make the church a target. Prayer can avert this.

Pray for

• Wise government for Iran and peace on the streets
• Protection for the church against evil plans
• All the officials in the new government

Friday prayers in Tehran University has traditionally been a time for the government to give its version of events, and usually there has just been one version. No longer. The Supreme Leader recently used the Friday prayers to endorse the disputed election result; two weeks ago Hashemi Rafsanjani, ex-President and a major political power-broker, flatly contradicted this adding that Ayatollah Khomeini had always insisted that the revolution would finish, if the people were not with you, a coded threat to the Supreme Leader; and last week (Friday 24^th) a Khamanei loyalist, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami (not the former President) in reply attacked the Supreme Leader’s critics. This was to be expected. But then he also attacked President Ahmadinejad for not sacking his first vice President, Esfandir Rahim-Mashaie according to the Supreme Leader’s request. Mashaie is out of favour because earlier he had said that Iran was friends with every country, even Israel. So…there is nothing boring about Friday prayers these days, as they continue to show up the divisions at the heart of the government. In this Christians need to remember that God is not for lawlessness and anarchy.

• Pray that whatever the outcome in this political drama, peace and common sense prevail.