Ayatollah’s death isn’t enough for Iran’s persecuted Christians, ministry leader says

An Iranian-born Christian leader is urging believers around the world to pray for her native country, saying the death of Ayatollah Khamenei alone will not bring freedom to the nation’s 92 million citizens.

Lana Silk is president of Transform Iran, a Christian ministry that equips and supports Iran’s growing underground church in a country where evangelism is illegal and conversion to the faith is considered apostasy, a crime that can carry the death penalty.

Khamenei was killed during U.S.- and Israeli-led strikes targeting Iran’s leadership, military infrastructure and nuclear capabilities. He had been in power since 1989 and was only the second supreme leader of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which ushered in the theocratic Islamic state.

“He was a wicked man who did unthinkable, wicked things, and there is definitely a relief that he is no longer able to continue to cause suffering,” Silk told The Lion before quickly adding: “It’s sad that he never repented, that he never corrected what he had done, and that he’s just going to have to face the eternal consequences of the way he lived his life.

“But from a political point of view, and in terms of the regime, it’s really a good thing that he is no longer leading Iran.”

Silk was born in Iran in 1978, a year before the Islamic Revolution – and she dreams of seeing the country freed from the regime it ushered in. Her family fled the country.

Under Khamenei’s leadership, Iran fueled much of the terrorism across the region – whether it was the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah’s militant activity in Lebanon, or the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Silk added.

“The list just goes on,” she said. “And it’s not just in the Middle East. Iran has been very careful and strategic to stretch wider into North Africa, South America. Its allegiances are far and wide.”

But Khamenei’s death doesn’t guarantee change, she warned.

“A leader that is elected in the same processes that Khamenei was elected will not necessarily be any better – and our work is definitely not done,” she said. “… We have to make sure that we don’t just leave a job half done.”

It’s not clear whom the current regime will pick to replace Khamenei – and the succession process was further complicated when more than 40 senior leaders were killed in the same strikes that ended his life. Of course, many observers in the West view that instability as a positive, believing there aren’t many more figures left who are firmly on the regime’s side.

“If we take enough off the top, I think we’re going to be left with largely people who are there for mercenary reasons, who are corrupt, who just want to have power, who want to get rich,” Silk said. “And those are people that are easier to sway.”

She added: “We’re on the right trajectory.”

Silk estimates that no more than 10% of Iran’s population supports the regime – and she believes many, if not most, Iranians are ready to turn the page and welcome back Reza Pahlavi, known locally as the crown prince. He is the son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country’s last shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and has been living in exile.

“We actually have a good, viable alternative,” she said.

An Iran without the current regime, she said, would mean greater freedom for Christianity to grow. That’s because the current regime – in her words – hates Christians, partly because of their association with Judaism and the Jewish people. Iran ranked as the 10th most dangerous country in the world for Christians to live, according to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List.

The country needs to be covered in prayer, she told The Lion.

“Pray for the Christians who are increasingly isolated right now – a lot of them have had to delete all Christian contacts off their phones just because the phones are being checked regularly and their identities are being revealed. So it’s tough. It’s tough right now for Christians. Pray for their comfort, their courage, their protection. Pray for Iran. And keep praying for the Iranian leadership. We pray for their salvation, and that He will draw them to repentance, and they will make right where they have caused so much suffering.

“And we ask for prayer for us because we’re caught up in all of this – and we’re doing our best to meet the needs, and there’s a lot of need. We need resources, and we need to be strengthened in prayer.”