U.S. President Trump Urged to Confront Iranian Regime Over Repression of Christians

Iran is reported to have launched a new crackdown against Iranian Christians this month following the re-arrest of two men. According to a February 10 report on the website of the U.K.-based NGO Article18, which seeks to protect religious freedom in Iran, “Two Christians in their 60s who were released after a combined six years in prison on charges related to their leadership of house churches have been re-arrested.”  

Iranian regime intelligence agents re-arrested the two Christians, Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Joseph Shahbazian, and incarcerated both men in Tehran’s brutal Evin Prison. Gol-Tapeh is reportedly on a hunger strike over “unlawful re-arrest,” noted Article 18, which advocates on behalf of persecuted Iranian Christians. 

Article 18 said a “number of other Tehran Christians were also arrested at the same time and remain in custody.”  

Iranian-Americans and Iranian dissidents are urging the Trump administration to shine a spotlight on the ubiquitous Iranian regime human rights violations while imposing punitive measures on the clerical state in Tehran.  

Alireza Nader, an Iran expert, told American media, “Christians in Iran are relentlessly persecuted by the Islamist regime. The Trump administration should highlight their plight publicly while putting maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime.” (FN/VFI News)

“Dear God, we pray for our Iranian brothers and sisters who are facing extreme persecution for Your Name. You and Your Son had warned us that this would happen, but we pray that You show mercy to Your children and rescue them from extreme suffering, abuse, and censorship. We pray in Yeshua’s name that they will continue to glorify Your name and plant seeds of Your Word to their fellow countrymen. May Your Loving Hand protect them from their enemies, deliver them from all their troubles, and reward them for their faith and resilience.”