Hassan Rouhani officially wins Iranian presidency, meets with Khamenei

It is now official: Hassan Rouhani has officially won Iran’s presidential elections. But make no mistake — he is not the moderate the media and Western politicians are portraying him as. He is a Radical Shia cleric who is loyal to the Ayatollah Khamenei. But he has been chosen because he will try to provide a new face of the regime, one that will appear to be more pragmatic and willing to cooperate with the West, in contrast to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I’ve asked some Iranian Christian leaders their views of Rouhani, and how we can best pray for the people of Iran.

Here’s what one leader — Dr. Hormoz Shariat, ”the Billy Graham of Iran” – sent back to me:

1) Dr. Rouhani is absolutely in the pro-regime camp. He is loyal to the Ayatollah Khamenei and is committed to obeying his wishes and orders. Through the election of Rouhani, the Islamic government of Iran is trying to extend its life another four years, and maybe eight years.

2) What makes Rouhani different is that he is just one step closer to the reformists than other candidates. The week before the election, Rouhani mentioned that he will work to normalize Iran’s international relations. He explicitly said that he will do that without compromising Iran’s nuclear plans. He also mentioned that he will work on lifting sanctions without giving in to the control of the West. He was the only candidate that made such statements. So suddenly people had/have a small ray of hope.

3) We must remember that Khamenei is the supreme power and will make all the important decisions...

There are no “moderate Muslims” in power anywhere in Iran.

In fact, “moderate Muslim” anywhere is something of an oxymoron. There are radical Muslims and the vast majority of non-radical Muslims who are too intimidated by the bearded men with the burning eyes to raise the least objection to their behavior.

Moderate Muslims are slain like kufir, as it is believed that insufficient fervor is the same thing as lack of belief in the power of Baal, or Ahriman, or Lucifer, or whatever spirit the term “Allah” is supposed to represent.

It is OK to kill Muslims who are weak in their faith. No less than an authority for this comes directly from some crazy old sand hermit, Mohammed, who wandered around in the 7th Century and proclaimed himself to be a “prophet”. Anybody who challenged him or took him to task for his presumption was immediately pronounced to be an “unbeliever” and given a choice of converting to the faith being preached by the sand hermit, becoming a slave subject to his whim, or was slain when neither the first or second choice was made.

This kind of enforcement of belief does not leave room for any doubt or dissent, therefore, there are no moderate Muslims.

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