Iran is facing one of its most serious internal crises in decades. Economic collapse, widespread protests, government suppression, and international pressure. But we know that God is hard at work. Unpacking the situation coming up right now on TV today. Yeah.
You're listening to Preview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome back to another great episode of the Clearview Today Show here with our host, Dr.
Abadan Shah. If you guys are listening for the very first time today, Dr. Shah is a New Testament textual critic, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr. Shah. Welcome.
It's good to be here. Good to see you. Lots of things going on in the world. Lots of things that we want to talk about. It seems like every time we do another episode, somebody or something happens overseas.
But we want to talk about it. Staying up to date with current events is something that is very important to us. That's right. And it's almost like as you're looking at the news, where venture news from, most of us at this point get our news from some social media outlet, just scrolling on our phones and it pops up in real time. But it seems like the world climate or the world stage is changing right before our eyes.
I mean, we talked not long ago about Venezuela on the show and the situation there. And now here we are talking about Iran. Yeah. Iran has been in news for a long time, but as of last year, which is 2025, is back on the news because of the economic sanctions that have been put against it by President Trump. Trump You know, which should have been done a long time ago, but now the he has really clamped down on them for their negative role in the world, especially with supporting proxy groups and terrorism.
And so it is feeling its crisis now. I mean, this as of This past month, inflation hit about 48.6%. Wow. Which is a lot. And so people in Iran are feeling the pressure.
They are coming out in large, large numbers all over Iran, protesting against this Islamic regime that has been in power since the 70s. And things are happening.
So I'm a little confused on that. Maybe you can kind of walk me there because what started in just like a few places kind of quickly spread to cities across the country. And it was all about this economic crisis that was levied against it by the United States. But what's happened is they have turned to critique their own government.
So I guess, is it a thing where it's like if the government hadn't been this way, the United States wouldn't have placed these sanctions on us? Is that what's causing all the protests? Oh, yeah, yeah. And the people know.
Okay.
So we're going back to 1979 when the revolution happened in Iran against the Shah of Iran. And, you know, the Pahlavi dynasty, which the Shah of Iran's father was the first in line. and had really taken Iran into the twentieth century, I guess you can say, and really helped the economic boom and all of that. And but but there were some other things that happened, you know, that that people did not like. Those who opposed the Shah were were were dealt with.
But then again, You know, this kind of things, these kinds of things happen.
So, nonetheless, it was still a free country. That's what we need to realize. It was a free country. And so when this revolution happened, And Ayatullah Khomeini was brought into power, they thought, oh my goodness, now we're going to have real freedom. Whatever they thought was bad under the Shah, which was really.
I would say nothing, very minimal. You know, when you had people trying to bring in Islamic. rule, the Shah would put him down. When Khomeini came into power. It became a hundred times worse.
You know, it's funny you say that because I remember seeing pictures on Reddit of like Iranian women in the 70s or like before he came into power. And they did, they had like, like, they looked like Western women. Like, they looked like they had freedom, they had their hair down. They looked music, arts, all of these things. I mean, Iran was a Western country in the East.
And so, you know, I truly believe it was not as much that the Shah had suppressed any Any voices against himself. No, it was really the Islamists who were trying to come in power, and not just any Islamist, but. Marxist Islamist. Because keep in mind, the 50s, the 60s was the era when Marxism was spreading all over the world. especially in third world countries.
So This Marxism had come to Iran and Shah was putting it down.
Now, people may disagree with me, and they have a right to. But when Khomeini came into power, it became Islamic Marxism. It did not become A free republic, or we're just going to have Islam as our reli. No, it became a Marxist country with Islam as the religion.
So whatever they had a problem with. Against the Shah, Now it was a hundred, I would say 500 times worse. All those women who were walking around saying, you know, yes, death to the Shah, and we're not going to live under this dictatorship, they were going, oh, God, oh no, what is it?
Now I know we just asked somebody who was a hundred times worse to take over. Because guess what? The shot, you know, under the shot, at least you had a freedom. Right.
Now, you had nothing. Yeah, nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Immediately they were kicked, like, you know, drop kicked into the The the dark ages.
It's crazy because we we see the Middle East and we see how like backwards and how restricted and oppressed it's been. And we think it's always been that way. I guarantee you there are tons of people listening right now who had no clue that Iran was basically a Western country. Yeah, like many in many ways. And and with those but when they brought in Khomeini, Um, it it went back into the dark ages with Islamic rule, Shiite rule, and this you know, Shia is if if you were to compare Sunni and Shia.
The Shiites are less militant.
Okay, but Khomeini brought a very militant kind of Shiite Islam.
Okay.
So he's sort of an outlier. In the general, like when you think of it. And so now, those same, by the way, the same people in 1979 who were teenagers or 20-somethings who were out there protesting, you know, fight the shah today, they are the ones who are saying, Yeah, fight against this. This is not what we fought for. Not we wanted.
Yeah, we were sort of duped because the moment they got Khomeini into power, then he sat down and says, You know, just like the Somali boat captain, now look at me, look at me, I am the captain now. Yeah, that's what they did. Was Khomeini elected by the people? No, okay, he just took over, yeah. I mean, of course, they they all have elections, but that doesn't mean anything elected, yeah, like a theater election, just like Maduro.
You know, of course, he got elected too. Um, but what does that mean?
So, do you think there's any world where we kind of treat uh like Iran like we did with Venezuela, where we go in, remove like this corrupt ruler by force?
Well, here's here's something I think President Trump is being very wise. In how he's handling Iran, because Iran and Venezuela are not the same thing.
Okay, so Venezuela is different because. Here was this this ruling You know, a regime, this social Marxist regime that had come into power back in the late 90s and then kind of. Held on to that power, but most people were not for it. It was not connected to religion. Venezuela's problem was not connected to religion.
Iran's problem is connected to religion. That complicates things. That's a good point.
So why can't President Trump do what he did to Venezuela? Why don't we just go over there and capture Khomeini? Can we do it? I would venture to say, yes, it can be done. I mean, we proved that back last year, I think it was in March, when Iran began to flex its muscles.
You know, Israel and America pretty much put an end to it. All the rocket launchers are now disabled. Yeah. No, I mean, they still have some, but it's nothing like what they did back in those days. Yeah, their nuclear nuclear program was crippled.
Oh, yeah, crippled as well. Like irreversibly crippled. We did an episode on it. Yeah. So it's nothing like what it used to be.
But at the same time, because of religion, because sometimes when religion is involved, then you never know where people will stand. Venezuela, religion was not the issue.
Social Marxism. was the issue.
So people knew very quickly: this is the man who killed my brothers and sisters. This is the man who imprisoned our families. These are the people who made us hungry. Get rid of them. Here you have a different problem.
Yes. These are the people who have set us back in the dark ages. These are the people who have brought such poverty to us. Who have made us hated before the watching world. But, you know, they protect us from the infidels.
So they're using it a little messier. It makes it messier. Iran, I mean, Israel, the little Satan, US, the big Satan, you know.
Now what do you do with that? Because religious sentiment involves faith.
Now when I talk about biblical faith, it's faith that is built upon facts. Right, right. When you're talking about faith in other religion, it is emotions. It's highly emotionally charged.
So, how do you reason with people when they're emotionally charged?
So, I think President Trump is taking the right approach here in. getting more and more of the people in Iran. To step out, it does seem to be working, right? Because again, I'm kind of shocked that the turnout has been what it is, where the United States is placing sanctions, like heavy sanctions, and heavy interest and heavy inflation upon Iran, and yet they're turning against their own government. You know what I'm saying?
It doesn't seem like a lot of that animosity is levied towards the United States. Right.
And that's what we want. And we want more and more of it. Yeah. More and more of it. It's not that we're trying to persecute the people.
No, we're trying to cut off the life source that this Islamist regime, I would say, Islamist Marxist regime in Iran. Is using to give people a little bit of life so they can stay in power. When that life is cut off, they have nothing to give to their people except for just woes and more problems. That's when the people go, y'all are the source of our problems, not US, not Israel. You are.
More and more of that needs to happen. If Iranians are listening to this, they're probably going, like, how much more? Yeah, I know. Thousands of people have died. How much more do you want?
And I don't want a single life to be lost because every single life needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. When President Trump is not, you know, he's not blind. He's not ambivalent to what's happening. He's posted several things like help is on the way. And, you know, he's very much aware.
And I think you said it best. He's approaching it wisely. To me, it's the difference between taking down an active shooter and defusing a bomb. They're both active threats that we need to take care of, but you go about it very differently. Two different kinds of issues going on here.
So what do you see happening next? The protests continue. They've been continuing for, what, a couple of months now?
Well, since December 28th, they really ramped up. And. The Islamic regime, the Shiite regime, you know. began to kill the protesters. And by the way, I don't understand the liberal leftist mindset.
Yeah. Yeah. Iran is saying Or the foreign minister was talking to Fox News to Bread Bar. He they're he they're saying oh. These are Israeli agents who are shooting our people.
Like Yeah. Don't buy into that. They lie. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. These people are okay with lying, they have done that. for a long time. And they're okay with lying. Why are listening to them?
Don't listen to them. They're not telling the truth. Yeah. Israeli agents may be on the ground there. Maybe they are helping the people, but they're not going to kill.
You know why? Because those people have conscience. Right.
That's a big difference. Yes. Yeah, it'll be very easy to take out all the terrorists. In Gaza and other places, but they don't because they hide behind children, they hide behind. the women, the hospitals.
They can bomb 'em, but they don't. Why? Because there's something called conscience. There's a lot of there's a lot of liberal news outlets claiming that the blackout that's been going on in Iran was caused by the United States. It was completely self state imposed.
Like the the Iranian government is the one that Put that black out. Yeah, it's kind of funny when people say that. Why would we do that? Because that's going to support Iran. Right.
Well, because the Iranian government said they're not doing it. And you believe that guess what? People, people lie, those people lie, those people lie. Yeah, absolutely.
So, isn't it, isn't it? I could be completely wrong on this, but isn't this an Islamic thing where if you, in order to disguise yourself or in order to not be found out as a Muslim, it's okay to lie? I feel like I heard that somewhere, but I could be wrong.
Well, look, I mean, when it comes to secret services, you know, you have to hide the truth. You cannot be like telling everything. Yeah. But when we talk about them lying because of the religion, it's almost. It's not to protect yourself, it's more to harm the other person.
Right.
It's a different kind of. Motivation to lie. Right, to attack or to take out the infidel or things like that. If an American spy is in, say, Russia, I'll tell him, don't admit that you are an American spy. You're right.
We understand that. You have to lie and say, No, I am just here because I am a communist. We understand that. But you're doing that so you can protect America. In this culture, it's okay to lie if you want to kill.
Innocent people. It's a different purpo. Yeah. Motivation. Yeah.
So what do you see happening next? Like, what do you see maybe in the next few weeks, a few months happening? Or what do you hope to see? What do I hope to see? I hope the Iranian people will keep The pressure on.
And I know that it's tough, tough, tough. But I hope they will. I hope the military and I hope the police will start defecting. I hope they start waking up and standing up to the government. I think it's needed.
Unless the armed forces and the law enforcement in Iran Steps up. and says We're going to support This Revolution. We're going to stand with our people. Our children, our grandchildren deserve. A better future.
Unless they do that, it's going to be very difficult. Because, you know, yeah, of course, can America go there? Yeah, of course. But that's going to kill a lot of our people. No, no, no, no, it cannot work like that.
So, and I know the Iranian people are suffering. I know Iranian people are. Are grieving the loss of thousands of people who've died. It's hard. For me to even say, Yeah, suffer some more.
But Until Those with weapons there. Armed Forces and Military. Start defecting. Those in power start defecting. It's going to be hard for others to get involved.
Yeah, that's true. We can. It's just going to get very messy very quickly because you don't know who's with you. But once the keys to power start to turn. Start turning.
And I think that's what's needed right now. That's a great point. The people are out. Yeah. But those with weapons, which means military and law enforcement need to To stand against their own.
Need to wake up and stand for what's right. Let's play a little thought exercise here. Let's just kind of explore a train of thought for a minute. If those in power with weapons, let's say those with weapons, law enforcement, military, if they start standing with the people, if they defect against the government, And the government is brought down or government is, you know. Alleviated from this tyrannical Islamic power.
What How will this change the climate of the Middle East? How will this change relations between Iran and other nations, the overall relationship with other nations in the Middle East? What big changes will happen?
So right now, the Saudi nations or or of Saudi Arabia or the Arab nations, I should say really, are concerned that if Iran Falls What's going to happen to the balance of power there? I think, based on my reading, based on my study, I think it'll be good for everybody. I don't think it's going to be as bad.
Now, of course, economically, The Iranians will be now the new. players in the game. They have oil. Mm-hmm.
So now that you have Free economics, all of a sudden there'll be prosperity there.
so the Arab nations may not like it. that that all of a sudden there's this huge country With people willing to work hard, work smart. And You know, come join the economy.
So that's one of the things they're concerned about. And I think, but that that's not how we should look at it. We should look at it as man, it could be a great time to make trade. Yeah, and like, I think, like, what we, when you look at like what happened in the 60s and stuff, we sort of saw that where prosperity is, westernization comes in. Do you think there's a chance that Iran could become a westernized nation again and maybe have a door open for the gospel to come in?
Oh, 100%. From based on what people have said, there are lots and lots of Christians in Iran. Just like in China. They're there, but they're sort of like underground. But a lot of people have become Christians.
And so that's another thing that some people fear. Then now you have you'll have a Christian Not that a Christian nation yet, but you'll have a lot of Christians there. In Iran, and what is that gonna do? To um To the future of Islam in the Middle East. Yeah.
Do you think there are some fears? But I think there are negative fears. Right.
Do you think a nation can truly be westernized without Christianity?
Well, if enough people In a country are willing to espouse Christianity, of course, Westernization is going to come.
So it's going to happen that way, where Christianity comes first, then Westernization. Yeah. Well, no, no. Westernization can also come first.
Okay.
Yeah, a lot like Iran prior to 1979 was not a Christian nation. Mm-hmm.
If anything, it leaned heavily towards Islam, but it was open. was an open society.
So that's why they were able to Embrace westernization. It wasn't a Christian nation, but Christianity was tolerated. More than just tolerated. Yeah, it was normal. It was normal and acceptable.
Jewish people were there. One of the largest Jewish communities were in Iran and had been there since like. 2,500 years. Yeah. One of the things, one of the reasons I'm asking is because we haven't talked about it in detail on the show, but we're working with pastors in the East right now to help bring Christianity.
You know, your books are being translated, they're being sent overseas, they're being translated into Hindi into Urdu, and we're branching out into more languages and we're working with pastors on the ground. But I'm wondering how all of this, you know, maybe even a year from now, five years from now, how all of this plays into what we're trying to do and hopefully what other churches here in the West are trying to do to get Christianity into the East. Right.
Uh so we need to always look for opportunities to Share the gospel. to provide resources, to be a voice for them. On this show, we're trying to be a voice for the people of Iran first, but then also for the Christians in Iran. We're trying to be a voice for them.
So I'm hoping. The thousands of people who are listening to this broadcast. Whether it's on Truth Network or Pray.com or some of our other radio partners. that they will understand the issues involved here. And that they will talk about it to their friends and family, that they will discuss them, they will understand the ramifications for why we stand against this Islamic regime in Iran.
Why we stand with President Trump? that something needs to happen here. Why we also pray for our nation, pray for our military, pray for wisdom for our leaders so that they will make the right decisions. Just because people are saying, come, help us right now. Yes, we are behind you.
But come on. Military get involved. Stand up to those in power. Yes, law enforcement in Iran get involved. Stand up against.
the oppressor oppressor um So let we're praying for wisdom for them. with the ultimate goal that once there is a free society, then of course as a Christian, as a believer, as a pastor. We can Do more to share the gospel. To help people. Absolutely.
Yeah. All of these things sort of working together, you know what I mean? Like we have this idea, this fantasy that we're going to pray or we're going to go over there, guns blazing for the gospel with our Bibles, and we're going to change the society. But really, it just takes, like you said, the military, law enforcement, Christians who are working here, pastors who are getting connected. It takes all of these things, and especially people, Christian people here in the West, listening to episodes like this, actively praying, actively seeing how they can get informed and get involved.
A lot of these things have to happen. And I think what you're saying, Dr. Shah, is in God's timing. Know what your part is and be ready to play it when the time comes. Absolutely.
Educate yourself. You know, don't listen. To media. Media has been, and I don't know when it will end. Um, most media I'm talking about, there's some good media that gives you objective news, but most media is so leftist, it is so biased.
I don't understand that. I mean, they're saying, no king, no king in America. And then. In Venezuela they're saying yes. keep yes, keep him in power.
Keep him in power. Yes, they're saying in Iran like right now they're fighting against President Trump, who is supporting freedom, and they're they're not saying a word.
Some of these liberals are not saying a word against The Islamic regime killing its own people. Not a word. That's such a great point. Wow. If you are just absorbing your information from a media news outlet, it's going to color your opinion against President Trump.
It's going to color your opinion against what he's doing and against the conservative values, against this movement to take out dictatorships and tyrannical governments. Yeah, you're talking about dictatorship in America. There has been a dictatorship in Iran since 1979. That's right. And the people of Iran are standing up.
Why aren't you saying anything? That's how you know. I mean, I think that to me, that's one of the things. I know we're running out of time, but that's one of the things that shows me that America is not a dictatorship because the person in power is not controlling what's being said about him. Right.
You know, if it were really a dictatorship, you would not be seeing public headlines about President Trump not doing a good job. The very fact that you're able to wrongly say that means that you're not living in a dictatorship. That's exactly right. You know, they say in Iran that if you talk against the regime or the ayatollah, you mean it could be death penalty. They say, no, no, that does not qualify for capital punishment.
Yeah, it does. Of course it does. How many people are being killed because they stand up to President Trump? Yeah. Right.
And how many people? You say, oh, you know, the IS just shot a person. Yeah, I mean, watch the news, watch the video, watch the reels. Stop listening to leftist media. I saw a pastor.
so-called pastor go on and on on his blog about about this stuff. With so much So many lies. I was like, my goodness. Either you're very ignorant. or you are very deceiving.
I don't know which one it is, or it may be both. But how can you do that? And of course I looked down to see how many likes he had. Oh, it was Like 13,000 likes. I'm like That's why you did it.
Yeah, that's why you said it. That's why. You know, say such things, and all of a sudden people come and say, I like that, I like that. 2,000 shares. Yeah.
Like, wow, look at that. and we tell the truth and people go Oh, okay. I don't know. I don't like that. I'm not quite sure where I stand.
And this person lies and misrepresents the truth. It has 13,000 likes and 2,000 shares. Yeah. So, and I know we're out of time, but in a world like that, where when we tell the truth, it's ignored or at best ignored, at worst persecuted, and people tell a lie and it's celebrated. What can we as believers, what should we do?
As believers, as I said earlier, educate yourself. Know the issues that are taking place. Understand history. In this little show of 30 minutes, we talked a little bit about where things went wrong in Iran. We talked a little bit about where things are right now.
And just a little bit more about where things will be over the next few weeks or months. Uh yeah, where I'm praying. I'm praying that God will Open a door. I'm praying that the people, especially the armed forces and law enforcement in Iran, will stand up against the government. And I'm praying that when the time comes, Israel and US and Free world everywhere would get involved and help the Iranian people, help them.
Um So Educate yourself, pray for them. Appreciate the freedoms we have in our country Stop buying into The no negative propaganda. Stop listening to leftist media. Um You know. Stop listening to pastors like the one I just mentioned to you.
I mean, his blog was it made made me so sad and angry at the same time. Yeah. So misleading. Yeah. Guys, so good for us.
Like Dr. Shab reminded us, stay informed, stay up to date with what's happening. And you know, one of the ways you can do that is by listening to the Clear View Today Show. We're going to bring you up-to-date information and do it in a way that focuses you on what God is doing in the world and what we can do as believers. Make sure you join us next time, same time, same place.
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