I knew Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash near his country’s border with Azerbaijan. We met several times in New York City when he came for meetings at the United Nations. More than once we met in his hotel. The last time we met, I asked him about his children and prayed for them. He was moved by the prayer, and the last thing he said to me was, “the mercy of God.” I also knew well of Iran’s Foreign Minister, Amir Abdollahian, though we never met. He was a key supporter of the Axis of Resistance that Iran backed in the Middle East. This array of political and military groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Hashd al-Shaabi, and the Houthis have been a major to threat to Israel (and America) for years.
This is a serious situation. In an attempt to deflect blame, it is very likely the mullahs in Tehran will blame Israel. Raisi, a hardline conservative known as the “Butcher of Tehran” for his violent crushing of dissent, was seen as a possible successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is 85 years old and suffering from cancer. The political uncertainty in Iran makes this a time of maximum threat as the jockeying for political power may well involve demonstrations of how much the various candidates hate Israel. Please continue to pray for this volatile situation.
