On 17 June the USA and Iran signed a 60 day truce, at least temporarily ending a war which began at the end of February. During the war world attention has focused on the impact of Iran’s closure of the Straits of Hormuz. And to be fair, the key thing the US government has got out of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) creating this ceasefire is Article 4 which promised the re-opening of the Straits of Hormuz to international shipping. Therefore, restoring the flow of oil to the world economy.

However, what should concern Christians is Article 2

“2 — The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.”

Non-interference in Iran’s ‘internal affairs’

Now let’s just explain what the Iranian government understands by its “internal affairs” –  which is its suppression of anyone in Iran it regards as a threat to the regime.

Since April 2024 when the current tensions between the US/Israel and Iran began the Iranian government has been massively increasing its persecution of anyone it regards as a dissident – including, and in some respects particularly Evangelical Christians. In fact, six times as many Iranian Christians were arrested in the first 12 months of that period compared to the previous year. Things continued to get worse and then came the street protests when thousands were murdered by the regime.

So, from the Iranian regime’s perspective – what Article 2 of this MOU is actually saying is that the US has agreed not to take any action against it, despite its appalling slaughter of its own people – and any action it may take against its own ‘dissidents’ in the future. That may not be how the White House sees it – but it is almost certainly how the Iranian regime views it.

The regime is now emboldened

That matters because the propaganda value of the agreement to the regime at home, is actually far more important to it than many of its substantive aspects, such as promises to start lifting sanctions if the regime complies with the agreement.

Whilst the most radical aspects of the regime had never been weaker following the onset of the street protests in December 2025 – now the regime, particularly the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who are the ideological guardians of the Islamic revolution, feel emboldened. They have engaged in a war with the world’s only super power, a war which key figures in the regime viewed as a prelude to an eschatological war which would herald the return of the Mahdi and bring a worldwide Islamic government. Now they believe they have forced the US who they refer to as ‘the great Satan’ to agree to withdraw its forces.

That eschatological war is one they believe will extinguish Christianity – with Jesus returning to earth as a Muslim, defeating the anti-Christ and its forces i.e. including ‘the Great Satan’ - and praying behind the Mahdi symbolising his submission to the Madi’s leadership.

The crackdown on Christians and other dissidents

That’s why the war which this truce has at least temporarily ended, has also been characterised by a massive crackdown on dissidents, including Christians. The state shut down of the internet during this period has made it extremely difficult to know to what extent the regime has continued the type of mass extra-judicial killings it was carrying out in January. However, three aspects of the regime’s formal judicial persecution of Christians and other dissidents should particularly concern us:

First, in addition to the thousands arrested during the earlier street protests who remain in prison, since the start of the war on 28 February an estimated four thousand more people have been arrested. They have faced trumped up national security charges, with many being tortured and forced to confess to crimes they did not commit. 

Secondly, there has been a surge in the arrests of lawyers who represent dissidents such as Christians. On 13 June 2025 the day Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities began,  IRGC intelligence officers violently arrested Ebrahim Parsamehr, a supreme court lawyer who was well known for representing Christian converts from Islam. However, the recent conflict with the US and Israel the regime has massively increased this with at least 32 lawyers arrested so far this year.

Thirdly, the number of political executions has reached previously unprecedented levels, with at least 42 dissidents hanged since the war began, including at least 10 detained during January’s street protests. Research undertaken by the Center for Human Rights in Iran found there was

“an average of one execution every two days—following secretive proceedings marked by torture, forced confessions, and the complete absence of due process.”

As far as we know, no Iranian Christians have been judicially executed for their faith since the hanging of Rev Hossein Soodmand in 1990. However, the surge in political executions creates a real risk that the regime could re-implement this aspect of shari’a for Christian converts from Islam.

Whilst the mass killings of street protestors in January this year means we simply do not know if it has re-engaged in extra-judicial executions of Christians, as was it did so Christian leaders such as Mehdi Dibaj, Haik Hovsepian  and Tateos Michaelian in 1994.

Pray for Christians in Iran