Source: www.MNNonline.org
Date: September 23, 2026
Iran (MNN) — A spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it will use different weapons, strategies, and targets if the United States escalates the war.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the militia arm of Iran’s regime, controlling the majority of activity in Iran — even up to a third of the economy, estimates Lana Silk, President and CEO of Transform Iran.
But Silk says the regime that the IRGC serves lost its legitimacy a long time ago.
“When people are taking to the streets and so aggressively confronting their own government, when they’re chanting ‘death to the dictator,’ when they’ve been told to chant ‘death to Israel and America’ for so many years, I think that is a government that has lost its standing in people’s minds and its ability to convince people that it knows what it’s doing, that it wants good for its own people,” Silk says.
Last week, a pro-government Muslim cleric in southeastern Iran was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen. Silk believes incidents like this will spread as Iranians are losing hope for outside help.
Security forces open fire on street protestors in January 2026.
(Photo courtesy Transform Iran)
“There was a lot of trust in the West intervening, and I think that trust has been lost. So there is a sense that if we want to get this done, we’re going to have to try to do more drastic things ourselves,” she says.
She says Iranians are angry at “Islamic voices” such as clerics, who are seen as supporters of the Islamic Republic. She has seen videos in recent months of Islamic clerics changing out of their Islamic robes in back alleyways so that people will not recognize them as clerics. The anger extends to the IRGC as well.
“There are a few names that have been floating around of people who are not very high-ranked IRGC members, but still commanders of certain factors that have apparently now been attacked by Iranians themselves,” says Silk.
(Photo courtesy of Zahra Amiri/Unsplash)
Believers in Christ must remember that God remains in control of every detail of Iran today, and He is good. Please continue to pray for Iran during a volatile time when “the fight for survival is very serious,” Silk says. Many banks have closed in Iran, purchasing power is basically gone, and lines at gas stations are extensive.
“As believers, we have to constantly remind ourselves of the realities of the supernatural realm that we know to be true, and then really speak that over the natural realm, speak God’s victory over Iran, speak God’s rule over Iran — His peace, His righteousness, His joy, the fruit of the kingdom of God,” Silk says.
“Pray in partnership with the church that is really in the front lines, paying a heavy price to be bringing the gospel to that nation. Pray courage for them. Pray in agreement with them. Pray peace over their hearts, and pray salvation over their friends that they’re reaching.”
Connect with Transform Iran to discover more ways to stand with the Iranian church today.
Header photo: Tehran, Iran (Stock photo courtesy of Etodayn via Unsplash)