Iran’s war with the United States may be exposing a second crisis inside Tehran: a struggle over who is actually running the country. New reporting suggests hardline security figures have acted outside Iran’s normal chain of command, while even President Masoud Pezeshkian has reportedly questioned whether directives attributed to the nation’s wounded and unseen supreme leader are authentic.

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From Breitbart:

The episode reportedly set off shouting matches, threats of resignation, and accusations of betrayal and treason within Tehran’s leadership, while exposing a more fundamental problem: Pezeshkian has questioned whether communications attributed to Khamenei — who has not appeared publicly since being badly wounded in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes in February — are even authentic.

The turmoil began after Iranian forces attacked three commercial vessels in the Strait overnight July 6-7, including a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, while Pezeshkian was in neighboring Iraq attending mourning ceremonies for Khamenei’s father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the conflict on February 28.

An enraged Pezeshkian called Vahidi and demanded answers, according to five Iranian officials and two members of the IRGC cited in the report. Vahidi reportedly told the president that he had neither authorized the attack nor known about it beforehand, while the Supreme National Security Council was also unaware of the operation.

According to the report, subsequent investigations traced the decision to attack the commercial vessels to Hossein Taeb, a powerful intelligence figure who opposed the agreement with Washington. Iranian analyst Alireza Namvar Haghighi said the operation was intended to destroy the memorandum of understanding with President Donald Trump and eliminate the possibility of future negotiations. The attacks prompted an American military response and helped send the two nations back into open conflict.

Taeb’s position makes the allegations especially significant. A former head of IRGC intelligence, he returned to prominence following the death of Ali Khamenei and reportedly helped secure Mojtaba Khamenei’s elevation as supreme leader. Mojtaba later placed Taeb in command of the Basij, the regime’s paramilitary organization responsible for suppressing domestic unrest.

Yet Mojtaba Khamenei himself remains largely invisible. He was seriously wounded during the February strikes and has not made an authenticated public appearance since taking power. President Trump said in August that he believed Khamenei was alive but “very seriously wounded.” Pezeshkian has also acknowledged difficulties communicating with the supreme leader, while the latest reporting indicates that Iranian officials have privately questioned whether some communications issued in Khamenei’s name actually came from him.

The uncertainty comes at an especially dangerous moment for Iran. Hardline commanders reportedly favor expanding attacks against American forces and U.S. Navy vessels while mobilizing Iran-aligned groups elsewhere in the Middle East. Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf have instead warned that continued escalation could deepen Iran’s economic crisis and expose the country to further American strikes.

Those economic pressures are already substantial. Pezeshkian recently acknowledged that the U.S. blockade has sharply reduced Iranian trade and prevented critical goods from entering the country. Tehran has simultaneously been preparing for possible domestic unrest, with Taeb instructed to strengthen the Basij’s intelligence network as economic grievances grow.

The result is an increasingly volatile combination: questions about the supreme leader’s condition and authority, competing centers of power inside the regime, severe economic pressure, and hardliners reportedly willing to escalate a war even without the knowledge of senior Iranian officials. For the United States, uncertainty over who can authorize military action—or even who ultimately controls Iran’s security apparatus—could make an already dangerous conflict considerably harder to contain. Let’s pray for wisdom and discernment for America’s leaders as they navigate this instability, for protection for American forces and civilians throughout the region, and for Iran’s people amid the turmoil within their government.

Share your prayers and scriptures for peace and wisdom in the comments.

(Excerpt from Breitbart. Photo Credit: Morteza Akhondi/Getty Images)