A Look at Iran’s Leaders

by Dr. Mike Evans | Mar 8, 2024 | Articles

Supreme Leader Grand

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Born in 1939, Ali Khamenei claims to be descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, a cousin of Mohammed and the first Imam of Shi’a Islam.  Within Iran, his office gives him absolute power and authority.  Khamenei was a top ally of Ayatollah Khomeini during the Iranian revolution.  Following the overthrow of the Shah, he served as Iran’s Secretary of Defense and was appointed to lead Friday prayers in Tehran.

In 1981, after surviving an assassination attempt that left his right arm permanently paralyzed, Khamenei was installed as president of Iran.  In his inaugural address, Khamenei promised to eliminate “deviation, liberalism, and American-influenced leftists.”  During the Iran-Iraq war which started in 1982, Khamenei developed close ties to the leaders of the Revolutionary Guards. 

Khamenei remained in office as president until 1989, when following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, he was selected by the Council of Experts to be the spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic.  The office of supreme leader, as established by Ayatollah Khomeini is to serve as a “theocratic guardian” of the people.  No law passed by the government may take effect without his approval.  Even those who are elected to office only serve if he deems them fit for the position.

One observer described Khamenei as the “omnipotent overseer of Iran’s political scene.”  Khamenei rarely speaks in public and has established a firm policy of not meeting with representatives or leaders of any Western government.  He does appear on Iranian television with foreign leaders from Muslim nations and the representatives of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.  Under his leadership, Iran has poured billions of dollars into training and arming various terrorist organizations.

Khamenei promoted the candidacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to serve as president when he first ran for office, and again in 2009 as a bulwark against reform efforts.  The 2009 election was marked by massive fraud and allegations of government interference.  Following massive protests, in which a large number of Iranians were killed, the government consolidated its grip on power.   The two men were once close, but reports of rifts between them followed the removal of several key Ahmadinejad allies from their government posts. 

Khamenei is no fan of tolerance.  His persecution of Christians, the Baha’i community, and even Sunni Muslims has been harsh.  As president, Khamenei signed a declaration that called for members of minority groups to have their “progress and development blocked” and keep those who openly practice religion from attending school or gaining meaningful employment.

Among the demonstrations of his absolute power are his edict closing public music schools because music education corrupts the minds of young children, and his forbidding the parliament of Iran from even debating the laws governing the press.  Khamenei also appoints the members of the Council of Guardians, who select those who will be allowed to run for office.

Khamenei once said that it is “clear that conflict and confrontation between [the Islamic Republic of Iran and the U.S.] is something natural and unavoidable.”  He described the United States as “trying to establish a global dictatorship and further its own interests by dominating other nations and trampling on their rights.”  In a speech to Iranian students in 2008, Khamenei said, “the Iranian people’s hatred for America is profound. The reason for this [hatred] is the various plots that the U.S. government has concocted against Iran and the Iranian people in the past 50 years. The Americans have not only refused to apologize for their actions, but have continued with their arrogant actions.”

The Iranian leader reserves his harshest words for Israel.  He stated publicly that, “this cancerous tumor of a state [Israel] should be removed from the region.”  In a 2008 sermon Khamenei declared that “it is incorrect, irrational, pointless and nonsense to say that we are friends of the Israeli people.”

President Ebrahim Raisi

The eighth president of the Islamic Republic, Ebrahim Raisi was born on December 14, 1960.  His father died when he was five, and Raisi attended a number of schools.  At the age of 15, four years prior to the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the Shah, he began studying at Qom Seminary.  There is considerable dispute as to the extent of his studies.  He has claimed to have a doctorate, but no records have been found to support that.  He has also claimed to be an Ayatollah, but again there does not appear to be any basis for that claim.

After the revolution when Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, Raisi was appointed as a prosecutor.  He rose through the ranks and was moved to Tehran.  Raisi has been named as one of the members of the “death committee,” which met to assign the penalties for those deemed not to be sufficiently in agreement with the new Islamic Republic.  Though the government officially recognizes less than 4,000 deaths, outside groups like Amnesty International place the death toll at more than 30,000.

In addition to his service as chief prosecutor in Tehran, Raisi was later named First Deputy Chief Justice of Iran.  After ten years in that post, he was designated Iran’s Attorney General.  Raisi continued to distinguish himself as a hard-liner, even by the extreme standards of the government of Iran.  

In 2017 Raisi ran against the incumbent president, Hassan Rouhani.  Other ultra conservative candidates dropped out of the race and threw their support behind him, but in the end, Raisi received only 38 percent of the vote, and Rouhani was elected to a second term.  In 2021, Raisi ran again for the open office of president.  This time he received 68 percent of the vote, although there were widespread allegations of voting irregularities.  Opposition candidates claimed the vote was rigged, but Raisi became president nonetheless.

Raisi made it clear from the beginning that he was committed to continuing Iran’s hostility toward Israel.  He picked Ahmad Vahidi to serve as Minister of Interior in his government.  Vahidi was involved in the deadly terror attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994 that killed 85 people and injured more than 300 others at a Jewish community center.  

His term in office has been marked by widespread protests across Iran, and the people demand the freedoms and reforms they have been promised.  But Raisi continues in power, and is expected to run for reelection when his current term ends in 2025.  He has been officially named by the United States government and sanctioned for human rights violations.  He has been unable to travel outside the country for fear of arrest.

In 2006 Raisi was named to Iran’s Council of Experts, the 86 member body that selects Iran’s leaders and approves all candidates for office.  He began serving his second ten-year term in that body in 2016.  It is widely believed that if the current Supreme Leader were to die, Raisi would become the third Ayatollah of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  His hatred of Israel is well-known, and he is one of the strongest voices in defense of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Major General Hossein Salami

In April of 2019, Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Hossein Salami to be the head of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution of Iran (the Revolutionary Guards). Since the revolution in 1979, this has been one of the most powerful positions in the government of Iran.  Salami replaced Major General Mohammad Jafari who had held the post since 2007.

Salami was a student at the Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran when the Iran-Iraq War started.  He left school to serve in the army, returning after the war was over to finish both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Salami has served in Iran’s military ever since, rising through the ranks to become a major general.  He carries on his country’s forty-year hatred of Israel.  In January of 2019, Salami told an Iranian television station that the “Zionist regime” needed to be wiped off the map.  Salami previously served as deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards and is known to be very hardline against both Israel and America.

The Revolutionary Guards are a radical group even by Iranian standards.  They are the most committed to ensuring the ideological purity of the regime and enforcing the standards of strict Islamic law on everyone in Iran.  The group is also a major supporter of world terrorism, and many of its top officials, including Salami have been personally sanctioned by the European Union and other Western powers.     

The Machal

by Dr. Mike Evans | Feb 23, 2024 | Articles

Israel’s quest for independence was greatly aided by the Machal or Mitnadvei ChutzLa’Arets (Volunteers from Outside Israel). This was a group of volunteers, approximately 3,500 strong, who hailed from at least 37 different countries. Young and old, they answered the rallying cry of the young nation surrounded by enemies determined to destroy every man, woman, and child. Some of them were Jewish, many were Believers, and some were simply interested in the cause of freedom for Israel.

The Jewish Underground in European countries and other far-flung places during the war produced a number of volunteers eager to aid the Israelis in their quest for autonomy in their new homeland. World War II veterans joined with the newborn Israel Defense Forces, who linked arms to enable ships loaded with Holocaust survivors to avoid blockades set up by the British navy. The proficiency and experience brought by these men and women made a critical difference in getting as many survivors as possible to the Holy Land.

They also made a huge contribution to the outcome of Israel’s War for Independence. The training provided in every area—infantry, air force, navy, artillery, health, and communication—was a key to Israel’s success against an overwhelming foe. This war was truly of a tiny Jewish David versus the Arab Goliath. In its infancy, Israel was forced to fight for its life against the monolithic machine stationed at its borders, and it needed the help of every able-bodied volunteer. Israeli soldiers referred to the volunteers from outside Israel—Americans and Canadians— as the Machlaniks. The enlistees saw firsthand the devastation to the Jews who had taken the burden of fatalities from the enemy armies of five surrounding countries. Relative to the number of inhabitants, Israel’s losses during the War of Independence were “five times higher than the number of American combat deaths in World War II.”

Some estimate the death toll at 6,000—approximately one-tenth of the Jewish population at that time. By contrast, America lost approximately three-tenths of a percent of her population during World War II. The volunteers arrived with drive and determination and with an undeterred dedication to defend the newly created Jewish homeland. Some fought with the Haganah, the underground army, with Palmach, an elite division of the underground, and ultimately with the Israel Defense Forces, but each put their life on the line to assist the Jewish people.

“The Machal forces were the Diaspora’s most important contribution to the survival of the State of Israel.”

– David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel

After the battles had been fought and independence won, many of the Machal stayed on to marry, raise families, and become productive and resolute citizens of the State of Israel. Sons and daughters followed in their footsteps as members of the IDF, defending their nation.

American Jews who wanted to serve were discouraged from doing so. At that time, Israel had few friends, including the United States. An embargo was in place to prevent military materiel being shipped to the fledgling nation. Americans traveling abroad had their passports stamped with: “This passport is not valid for travel to or in any foreign state for the purpose of entering or serving in the armed forces of such a state.”

Those Americans who did attempt to fight alongside the Israelis faced an attempt to intimidate with the threat of losing their citizenship. Americans who chose to ignore the warning had their citizenship put on hold while they served. If taken hostage by the Arab enemies, U.S. servicemen could expect no assistance from the United States and could claim no rights as American citizens. Few other countries placed such harsh restrictions on volunteers who aided the Israelis.

These determined volunteers were forced to travel a complex route to get to the Holy Land. The first leg of the journey was made by ship or airplane to either France or Italy. Once in Europe they were forced to spend weeks or months in camps for displaced persons until passage could be arranged to Haifa. The last leg of the journey was often made on an outdated tramp steamer or ship refitted to carry cargo with the most primitive of facilities. The travelers were in constant danger—either because of the rusting hulks or the Arab enemy.

Among the many who gave selfless assistance to the Israeli army and air force were: David Daniel “Mickey” Marcus, a graduate of West Point and later Commissioner of Corrections for New York City, who according to the Jewish Virtual Library: “wrote the first Israeli field manual on tactics and tragically died during the fight to open a new road to Jerusalem when he was accidentally shot by an Israeli sentry.” Marcus was later immortalized by Hollywood in the movie “Cast a Giant Shadow.”

Paul Shulman, an Annapolis alumnus, commanded the Israeli navy. His fleet numbered just three ships. Harry “Freddy” Fredkens was returned to England by David Ben-Gurion to clandestinely purchase aircraft for the newly christened Israeli Air Force. He was able to secure several trainers as well as Norseman light transport planes. Jack Freedman, a British citizen, was an excellent airplane mechanic and flight engineer. He was tapped to use his expertise to prepare the older-model planes for flight. It was Freedman who cobbled together Israel’s first Spitfire. It was assembled from parts of abandoned Royal Air Force planes following the British withdrawal from Palestine. The plane was test flown by Boris Senior of South Africa, a World War II pilot who also volunteered his services to fly airplanes to Israel from their purchase sites.

In America, Al Schwimmer, a TWA flight engineer, left his job to act as purchasing agent to secure much-needed airplanes. He helped to organize the Israeli Air Force’s Air Transport Command (ATC), the group that flew aircraft from Czechoslovakia to Israel, a major accomplishment. It was IAF pilots who were able to halt the Egyptian army’s momentum toward Tel Aviv.

Major General Herzle Bodinger, commander of the IAF from 1992 to 1996, said of the Machal airmen who flew so bravely into the battle during the War of Independence: “The non-Israeli aircrews played a decisive role, both in achieving Air Force objectives and in laying its organizational foundation. The legacy of their special contribution accompanies us to this day.”

During the course of the conflict, at least 119 Machal volunteers died in battle; four were women, and seven were Gentiles from the United States and Canada: George “Buzz” Beurling, Leonard Fitchett, Fred Stevenson, Glenn King, Bill Edmondson, Spencer Boyd, and Oliver G. Holton. All fought bravely for the right of the Jewish people to return to their homeland in Palestine. The outcome might have been terribly different had it not been for an illicit infusion of military supplies, including machine guns, rifles, and ammunition from (what was then the united country of) Czechoslovakia near the end of May 1948. It was a blessing for the under-armed Israelis and a monetary boon for the cash-strapped Czechs.

By the time the long, bitter battle finally ceased in January 1949, Palestinians by the hundreds of thousands fled to surrounding countries upon orders from the Arab leaders, who had visions of a triumphant return after routing the Jews. Following the deadly confrontation, Israeli leaders made the first of many succeeding attempts to forge a lasting peace with their Arab neighbors; no one would respond. There was no partner for peace. Arab inflexibility alone was responsible—then and now—for the continuing wars and unrest.

There is no doubt in the mind of any Jewish national who participated in the War for Independence that it was in large measure the various gifts, skills, experience, and passion of these brave and loyal volunteers from around the globe that brought them victory and sustained the fledgling State of Israel.

Lydia Christensen was a child of privilege. Born in Denmark in 1890 to wealthy parents, she achieved most of her life’s goals by the time she was 38. She became a teacher and pioneer in the field of home economics. She also enjoyed a loving relationship with Soren, another teacher, and was certain they were destined for marriage. Yet something was missing. Lydia later recalled: “There was a finality about it [marriage] that frightened me. Why should I have to fight that private reservation? Was there still something that was needed to make our lives complete? During the past year I had turned this question over in my mind a hundred times, but I had never been able to find any answer. Indeed, I had no idea where to look for one.”

Putting the question to Soren was perhaps the best thing Lydia could have done. He remarked that the emptiness inside her could be filled with religion and suggested she visit the Evangelical Mission nearby. Rather than take Soren’s suggestion, Lydia boarded the train the next morning to join her mother and siblings for the Christmas holidays. Though she had a wonderful visit, the inner turmoil continued to plague her even after she returned to her empty apartment in Korsor.

Sitting in her living room one cold afternoon, she opened her Bible to the book of Matthew. She read through the first six chapters but discovered that: “as I reached chapter 7, it was as though I came to a clearing, where the full, uninterrupted rays of the sun came streaming down upon me…. Somewhere ahead … there was a gate. Inside, there was a way that led to peace and fulfillment.”

During Bible study that fateful day, Lydia met the Prince of Peace and submitted her will and her life to the Lord Jesus Christ. After much prayer and seeking God’s will, Lydia felt that He was directing her to go to Jerusalem during the tumultuous days between the First and Second World Wars. On October 18, 1928, at the age of 38, Lydia landed in Tel Aviv with about $200 in her purse and then traveled eastward to Jerusalem.

There, she learned Arabic and founded a children’s home, becoming a mother to dozens of Jewish and Arab orphans, mainly girls. Lydia quietly ministered to Arab women in Jerusalem. When World War II broke out, she expanded her ministry to include British soldiers stationed in or visiting Jerusalem during the conflict.

One of the soldiers with whom Lydia came in contact was Derek Prince, a scholar of both philosophy and language. Though there was a 25- year age gap between the two (Lydia was the elder), they married and remained in Israel until its declaration of independence in 1948. After their marriage, she and Derek adopted eight of Lydia’s orphan girls. The Princes and their daughters returned to Britain, where they taught, ministered, and shepherded gatherings. Their service to various congregations took them to England, Canada, Africa, and finally to the United States, where they settled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Derek Prince became a well-known Bible teacher with a successful radio ministry. His program, “Keys to Successful Living,” was heard in various languages worldwide. He was equally well-known for his service in the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International. Lydia was his helpmate in every way, working diligently in the ministry to help promote the Gospel. She suffered a debilitating stroke in 1975 and died in October of that year. Not only her family grieved her death, but people worldwide mourned the loss of the woman who had touched their lives over a span of 50 years—particularly those in Israel.

Just as the Machal responded to the desperate need of the nation of Israel in 1948, today we are faced with the challenge—and the opportunity— to take a stand for God’s Chosen People. The members of the Jerusalem Prayer Team are fighting a conflict that is just as real, even though by its nature a spiritual battle cannot be seen with our natural eyes.

Our prayers are a vital weapon in the struggle for control of the Holy City and the land of Israel. We must be faithful and diligent as we do our part to defend the Jewish people in our day.