Originally published in Worthy Christian News
Iranian authorities have killed or imprisoned dozens of Christians amid a widening crackdown on the country’s underground church, according to Iran Alive Ministries, a Texas-based Christian ministry with a network inside Iran.
Iran Alive founder Hormoz Shariat told Baptist Press that at least 33 ministers connected to the ministry were killed in recent months, while 131 others were arrested. Fourteen remain imprisoned, with some reportedly facing death sentences. The ministry said many others remain unaccounted for, underscoring the danger facing converts and house church leaders in the Islamic Republic.
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The crackdown comes as Iran has moved more aggressively against Christian evangelism. Religious persecution monitors reported that Tehran recently blacklisted religious broadcasts and criminalised listening to them, a move aimed at silencing Christian media and cutting off access to the Gospel.
Yet even under threat of imprisonment, the underground church continues to grow. Shariat said Iran Alive has recorded 5 849 professions of faith in 2026, while estimating the true number is likely much higher. He said imprisoned believers are continuing to share Christ inside prison, turning places of suffering into places of ministry.
Open Doors ranks Iran as the 10th most dangerous country in the world for Christians on its 2026 World Watch List, citing Islamic oppression and what it describes as the regime’s paranoia toward religious minorities and converts.
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Despite being one of the most tightly controlled Islamic nations on Earth, one of the fastest-growing churches in the world is not rising beneath steeples, but behind closed doors.
Across Iran, thousands of Christian converts are meeting quietly in house churches, often under threat of surveillance, arrest, imprisonment, and even death. Yet the underground church continues to grow, with reports from Christian ministries describing a remarkable movement of Iranians turning to Jesus Christ despite increasing pressure from the regime.
For many believers watching the current war and turmoil surrounding Iran, the growth of the Persian church carries deep prophetic weight. The ancient region of Elam, located in what is now southwestern Iran, is specifically named in Jeremiah 49. The prophecy speaks first of judgment, scattering, and the breaking of Elam’s power — but it does not end there.
“Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in the latter days,” the Lord declares in Jeremiah 49:39.
That promise has stirred many Bible students to see more than headlines in Iran’s unrest. While the Islamic Republic projects power through militias, missiles, and regional warfare, another story is unfolding beneath the surface: Iranians are coming to faith in Christ in extraordinary numbers.
This does not mean every military development involving Iran should be declared an immediate fulfillment of prophecy. Scripture calls for humility, not speculation. But the contrast is striking. As Iran’s rulers rage against Israel and the West, many within Iran are quietly turning toward the God of Israel and the Messiah of Israel.
The same land once associated with Elam’s judgment may now be witnessing the beginning of its restoration — not first through politics, but through salvation.
In the shadow of war, persecution, and shaking, the Gospel is moving. And in Iran, the church is proving once again that the Kingdom of God often advances most powerfully where earthly kingdoms feel most secure.
Meanwhile, Iran International reports that a revolutionary court in Isfahan has sentenced 10 protesters to death and six others to prison terms of up to 25 years over the nationwide demonstrations in the central Iranian city, according to an activist-run Telegram news channel.
Khabaraneha, run by Iranian political activist Mehdi Mahmoudian, said Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court issued the initial verdicts against 16 people detained in connection with the protests that began in late December 2025.
Those sentenced to death are Taraneh Rahimi, Navid Elyasi, Mehrdad Boeri, Abolfazl Dadgostar, Armin Gholami, Mehdi Mansouri, Ahmadreza Saeedi, Mohammadmehdi Asadi, Parsa Jafari and Mehdi Jafari, also known as Mehdi Khosravi.
Romina Rahimi and Milad Boeri were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Hamed Mehralian received a 15-year term. Setayesh Saedi, Sajjad Abedi and Ali Boeri were each sentenced to five years, Khabaraneha reported.
In addition, all 16 defendants were sentenced to five years for “assembly and collusion,” five years for “incitement” and one year for “propaganda against the establishment,” according to the report.
The case has become known as the “Isfahan Shohada Square” case and stems from protests in the area during the January uprising.
Khabaraneha said one of the female defendants was assaulted while in detention and filed a complaint over the incident, but that the court issued its verdict without examining the complaint.
Ahmadreza Saeedi also told judges during the trial that he had been tortured during interrogation, the channel reported. Khabaraneha said there had previously been reports of restrictions on lawyers’ access to the case file and of defendants being tortured to extract confessions.
Radio Farda reported in July that the case was connected to the deaths of Abbas Kamrani, a 37-year-old Revolutionary Guards colonel, and another person described in case documents as “homeless.” It said the 16 defendants mostly worked around Shohada Street in Isfahan.
The office of Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi condemned the verdicts on Sunday, calling them “brutal and unjust” and saying they reflected an intensifying crackdown by the Islamic Republic.
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