“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)  

In the aftermath of the January 2026 massacres, and with Iran’s government continuing to inflict suffering at home and abroad, it is hard to read these words. The Scripture is asking us to pray for Mojtaba Khamenei — who replaced his late father, Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s Supreme Leader — and others in Iran’s power structure.   

This is a government that ordered the violent crackdown in which up to 40,000 people were murdered, and countless others wounded and arrested. A government that has oppressed its people for 47 years. It helps to remember that when Paul wrote these words, the ruler in Rome was Nero, whose name was soaked in the blood of many.  

And it is important to remember the purpose of the prayer: so that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life. We pray not because these leaders are righteous, nor because they should go unpunished, nor because God will not remove them if He chooses, but because anarchy will unleash even more suffering on Iran’s people.  

Among our prayers for these rulers should be this: that they repent of the evil they have inflicted on others and that they be brought to justice.