{"id":7543,"date":"2026-09-06T11:05:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/?p=7543"},"modified":"2026-09-06T11:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:21:08","slug":"islamic-republic-thinks-it-won-the-war-with-us-now-christians-are-paying-the-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/islamic-republic-thinks-it-won-the-war-with-us-now-christians-are-paying-the-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic Republic thinks it won the war with US – now Christians are paying the price"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Right now, the regime believes it has outlasted the United States and can intensify its crackdown with impunity. It is now carrying out persecutory measures against Christians even the most hardline among them once balked at.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Janatan Sayeh and Samuel Ben-Ur, Op-ed contributor Thursday, July 30, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christian Post<\/a><\/em><\/strong> – Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) published a list of \u201chostile\u201d media organizations on July 14, including multiple Christian evangelical broadcasters based outside of Iran. Those Tehran finds guilty of \u201ccooperation,\u201d which includes tuning into broadcasts, with these organizations face years in prison, or worse.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move comes after Islamic Republic authorities seized Iran’s oldest Protestant church and ordered the 20 low-income Christian families living on its grounds to vacate, telling church leaders they are \u201cno longer afraid of America.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crumbling agreement between Tehran and Washington to halt the war that began on February 28 was sufficient for the regime to refocus on its domestic \u201cenemies,\u201d including those who dare explore faiths outside of Islam.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the war began, the regime has arbitrarily detained more than 6,000 people. Many Iranian Christians \u2014 one of the world’s fastest-growing faith communities \u2014 are caught in this net. Following a pattern seen after the 12-Day War in June 2025, the regime is fabricating scapegoats, with Christian converts serving as ideal targets to be accused of acting on behalf of the United States and Israel. Iranian propaganda outlets often label members of the faith as Western-aligned or Zionist, casting them as an \u201cenemy\u201d within.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after the 12-Day War, which was more clearly at least a limited defeat for Tehran, the regime ramped up its persecution of Christians. Whether Tehran feels it won or lost a war, Christian converts in particular become its targets. A loss means the regime feels fragile and scapegoats invented enemies. A victory, even pyrrhic or perceived, emboldens the regime to force its fanatical religious beliefs on those whose mere existence challenges them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, the regime believes it has outlasted the United States and can intensify its crackdown with impunity. It is now carrying out persecutory measures against Christians even the most hardline among them once balked at.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one recent case, Mohammad Nikbakht, a Christian convert and civic activist who has been in custody since March, faces threats of execution. His brothers have already been sentenced to death on charges of \u201ccorruption on Earth\u201d over their alleged role in organizing anti-regime protests.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some members of Iran\u2019s Christian community have been disappeared, including Mary Mohammadi, a Christian convert who was moved to an undisclosed location in late April. Her family has lost contact with her.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, authorities announced the arrest of three \u201cmain elements\u201d of what they claimed was a \u201cChristian evangelistic network\u201d that had converted friends and family to \u201cZionist\u201d Christianity, and \u201cprayed for the victory of the Zionist regime.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being arrested, there is little chance of acquittal in Iran\u2019s injustice system, not least because the regime has a habit of imprisoning the attorneys tasked with providing a defense. Lawyer Bahar Sahraian, detained in May, was following up on cases she had before the Shiraz Revolutionary Court when she was taken to the prosecutor\u2019s office and charged with \u201cassembly and collusion to act against national security,\u201d \u201cpropaganda activities against the Islamic system,\u201d and \u201cpublishing falsehoods\u201d before being sent to prison.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classifying Christianity as a political offense funnels converts into Evin Prison, notorious for abusing detainees. Convert Mahshar Parandin is currently at the facility and has been denied surgery for tumors that threaten to rob her of her sight. Catholic convert Ghazal Marzban, sentenced to almost 10 years in Evin for \u201cpropaganda against the state,\u201d began a hunger strike to protest her arrest and living conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victims\u2019 loved ones aren\u2019t spared. The family of Mohsen Rashidi, a Christian convert among at least 22 killed by the regime during the January protests, was forbidden from erecting a gravestone over his burial site and was forced to pay around $8,000 to recover his body.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regime demolished the Mashhad Evangelical Church in June, which had been one of two churches in Iran to offer Persian-language services before both were closed decades ago. Choosing now to demolish a church that Tehran had forcibly closed decades ago not only means those communities cannot be revived but also shows that the Islamic regime feels comfortable conducting persecutory acts it had refrained from for decades.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the Islamic Republic thinks it has faced maximal American-Israeli pressure and won, these persecutory acts are likely a mere prelude.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s judiciary exploits the deliberately vague penal codes to sentence Christians, like Article 500 that forbids worship that \u201cinterferes with the sacred law of Islam,\u201d and was used in the prosecution of nearly 90% of cases against Christians in 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shiite supremacist regime only officially recognizes ethnic Armenian and Assyrian Christians, and forbids worship in the Persian language. Apostasy is a crime punishable by death under Iran\u2019s version of the Islamic penal code, even if it is not often carried out.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks, the Memorandum of Understanding has all but collapsed, and Washington reissued sanctions against Iranian drone and oil sales. Missing, however, from this return to maximum pressure are human rights sanctions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration should sanction the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization and reviled judges such as Ashkan Ramesh and Iman Afshari under the Global Magnitsky Act for violations of religious freedom. It should also consider adding the local policing bodies responsible for church demolitions and arrests of Christians. The U.S. should also fill the long-vacant Ambassador-at-large for Religious Freedom position, so Washington has an operative body to focus on this and other religious persecution issues.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next round of talks, Washington should not abandon its commitment to defending religious freedom worldwide. The Islamic Republic\u2019s persecution of Christians should not go unremarked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janatan Sayeh is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he focuses on Iranian domestic affairs and the Islamic Republic\u2019s regional malign influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuel Ben-Ur is a research analyst at FDD focused on global Christian persecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right now, the regime believes it has outlasted the United States and can intensify its crackdown with impunity. It is now carrying out persecutory measures against Christians even the most hardline among them once balked at. By Janatan Sayeh and Samuel Ben-Ur, Op-ed contributor Thursday, July 30, 2026 The Christian Post – Iran\u2019s Ministry of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[387,388,386],"class_list":["post-7543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran-fa-news","tag-iranian-christian","tag-the-islamic-republics-persecution-of-christians","tag-us-war-with-islamic-republic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7543"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7552,"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7543\/revisions\/7552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panahandenews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}