IRAN AFFAIRS: A new report by NUFDI titled “Faith Under Siege” has documented the religious oppression, providing many examples of the individuals who have been arrested.

As over two billion Christians around the world gather to celebrate Christmas during the next two weeks, one country in particular has increased its oppression of Christians and other religious minorities – Iran.

When Iran’s 12-day war with Israel ended in June, the regime in Tehran moved quickly to declare victory and national unity. However, behind the slogans and state television broadcasts, the Islamic Republic redirected its security apparatus inward at its own people, launching one of the most sweeping domestic crackdowns in recent years. The authorities boasted of arresting at least 21,000 “traitors” in the months following the war.

At the center of that campaign were Iran’s religious minorities – Christians, Jews, and Baha’is. These are communities long accustomed to discrimination since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, but they are now confronted with a level of repression that fused faith itself with allegations of treason.

A new report by the National Union for Democracy in Iran, titled “Faith Under Siege,” has documented the religious oppression, providing many examples of the individuals who have been arrested, often without the realistic chance of release and, more often than not, with the threat of torture hanging over them.

Many of the arrests were justified under an expansive set of charges, including espionage, collaboration with Israel (Iran has executed scores of people since the war under claims of spying for Israel), and “undermining national morale.” While journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens were swept up in large numbers, religious minorities were disproportionately targeted, often on the basis of belief alone, the report documents.

Iran’s constitutional framework places religion at the core of state power. Twelver Ja’afari Shi’ism is enshrined as the official religion, and all legislation must conform to Islamic criteria as interpreted by clerical authorities. This comes under Velayat-e Faqih, or “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist,” an ideology expounded by the country’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who believed in clerical authority over political independence.

While Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism are nominally recognized in Iran, that recognition does not extend to equality. Non-Muslims face legal discrimination in inheritance, employment, compensation for injury or death, and access to senior public positions. It is estimated that over 98% of high-ranking government and military posts are reserved for Shia Muslims.

More critically, conversion from Islam is treated as apostasy, a crime punishable by imprisonment or death. Vague national security offenses, such as “enmity against God” (moharebeh), give judges sweeping discretion to criminalize peaceful religious activity.

The US State Department has repeatedly designated Iran a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious freedom violations, a classification reserved for the world’s most egregious offenders, although Iran is seldom called out for its treatment of minorities.

Within such a legal environment, repression requires no emergency legislation. It requires only a trigger.

The June war provided precisely that, and the report argues that the conflict acted as an accelerant rather than a cause of the repression.

Almost immediately after hostilities began, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence warned of internal networks collaborating with Israel. The rhetoric quickly expanded beyond activists and journalists to encompass entire religious communities. Baha’is, whose number in Iran is around 300,000, were accused of acting as a Zionist fifth column. Christian converts were portrayed as Western agents engaged in ideological subversion. Jews were treated as inherently suspect, regardless of citizenship or personal history.

Detainees were denied access to lawyers, held incommunicado, and pressured to confess. Phones, laptops, religious texts, and family photographs were routinely confiscated. In many cases, families were not informed of where their relatives were being held.

Iran’s Christians

For Iran’s Christian community, the postwar crackdown has been particularly severe. While the government officially recognizes approximately 100,000 Christians, most of whom belong to ethnic Armenian and Assyrian churches, human rights groups estimate the real number of Christians in Iran (which consists primarily of converts from Islam) exceeds one million. It is this growing community of converts that the regime views as most threatening.

Since the war, at least 50 to 54 Christians have been arrested, with more than 40 still in detention at the time of the report’s publication. Their alleged crimes included hosting house churches, owning Bibles in Persian, celebrating Christian holidays, and participating in online religious courses. In several cases, simply praying in private homes was treated as an act of national security sabotage.

One of the most noticeable cases is that of Aida Najafloo, a Christian convert sentenced to 17 years in prison for involvement in a house church network. During her arrest, Najafloo reportedly suffered a spinal injury, yet prison authorities have denied her adequate medical treatment. Another detainee, Joseph Shahbazian, received a 10-year sentence for evangelizing in Persian, a linguistic choice that authorities framed as evidence of an intent to convert Muslims. Nasser Navard Goltapeh, previously imprisoned for possessing Christian literature, was rearrested and subjected to bail exceeding $270,000, an amount designed to keep him behind bars indefinitely.

Morteza Calvin Faghanpour Sasi, another Christian convert, was “arrested on the street by security officers,” the report states. “Following his arrest, officers raided his home, confiscating several Bibles, evangelistic booklets, a cellphone, and Christian images and crosses displayed on the walls.” Sasi was transferred to Iran’s notorious Evin Prison and was held for one month, where he faced intense interrogations and physical torture.

The charges against him included “illegal distribution of Christian literature,” “participation in foreign online theological courses to learn evangelism,” and “posting an insulting caricature of the supreme leader on social media.” The Varamin Revolutionary Court sentenced him to eight years and 11 months in prison, according to the report.

Christianity is theoretically tolerated when it remains ethnic and apolitical, although given the absurd accusations leveled at individual Christians when they are arrested, even apolitical religion is targeted. Faith that spreads is faith that threatens.

Iran’s Jews

Iran’s Jewish community, one of the oldest in the world, has experienced a different form of repression. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran was home to more than 120,000 Jews. Today, that number has fallen to approximately 9,000, a decline of over 92%. While Iranian officials frequently cite the continued presence of Jews as evidence of tolerance, the reality on the ground is very different. Iranian Jews are guaranteed at least one representative in the Iranian parliament, but they are subjected to close scrutiny, especially when it comes to any support for Israel.

Following the war, at least 35 Jewish citizens were arrested on espionage-related charges. Some were detained for having traveled to Israel decades earlier. Others were summoned for questioning over social media posts or even “likes” deemed sympathetic to Israel. In one documented case, a Jewish man was interrogated for maintaining contact with relatives abroad. One man was detained after Hebrew was discovered on his cellphone – he belonged to a WhatsApp group learning Talmud.

Executions based on “spying for Israel” have also increased since the war’s end, although Iranian analysts state that real spies are executed behind the scenes and their deaths are not publicly announced. The executions that are presented to the public, according analysts, are more for show and to deter dissent, than genuine espionage.

Last Saturday, Aghil Keshavarz, a Shahrood University student, was executed after Iran’s judiciary convicted him of spying for Israel. Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called out the regime afterward.

“The Islamic Republic’s murder of Aghil Keshavarz is clear evidence of its weakness,” the prince wrote on social media. “Khamenei and his regime are taking out revenge for their defeat in the 12-day war by murdering Iran’s innocent youth based on lies.

“This regime’s greatest fear is from the people of Iran and their great national uprising. The Iranian nation’s will, however, is stronger than the regime’s suppression and fearmongering.”

Even Iran’s lone Jewish member of parliament was summoned by security officials and warned about the community’s online behavior. While Iranian diplomats abroad insist on distinguishing between Judaism and Zionism, that distinction collapses entirely inside the country. As the report notes, “Iran’s Jews are citizens on paper, but suspects in practice.”

Iran’s Baha’is

The most systematic persecution, however, continues to be directed at the Baha’i community, Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority, numbering approximately 300,000. The repression of Baha’is has been ongoing since the revolution, but, according to the report, the current abuses can be traced back to a 1991 memorandum approved by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which outlined a strategy to block the “progress and development” of the Baha’i community without resorting to overt mass extermination. The objective, according to the document, was to ensure that Baha’is remain marginalized.

Since the war, that strategy has intensified dramatically. Dozens of Baha’is have been arrested in nighttime raids. Others have been subjected to enforced disappearances, held for weeks without contact with their families. Bail amounts ranging from $40,000 to $830,000 have been set, effectively giving defendants no chance of release and thereby prolonging their detention. Properties have been confiscated under Article 49, businesses shuttered, and professional licenses revoked.

One case documented in the report involves Iman Rahmatpanah, abducted from his home and held incommunicado for weeks. Another details the sentencing of six Baha’i women in Hamedan to a combined nearly 39 years in prison on charges of Zionist propaganda and acting against national security. None of the charges involved violence.

Across all communities, the methods of repression are consistent. Arrests are typically conducted without warrants. Detainees are held in solitary confinement, sometimes for weeks; and forced confessions, often under torture, are common. Access to lawyers is routinely denied. Families are harassed and threatened, if they attempt to speak out on behalf of their relations. The report documents allegations of sexual violence in detention, including against minors. In several cases, detainees simply vanished, their whereabouts unknown for extended periods.

On the whole, the government’s actions meet several criteria under international law for crimes against humanity, notably persecution and enforced disappearance, even as Iranian authorities try to present them domestically as acts of national defense.

When confronted with external pressure, the Islamic Republic turns inward. Religious minorities are convenient scapegoats in a land ruled by Shia Islam. Casting minorities as internal enemies allows the regime to try to deter dissent and reassert ideological control, without there being any real challenge to the centers of power.

As “Faith Under Siege” notes, “In Iran, war abroad often means repression at home.” The 12-day war gave the authorities the excuses needed to increase domestic repression, as discontent among Iranians grows at the fiscal and environmental disasters the authorities are responsible for.

The war with Israel may have lasted less than two weeks, but its domestic consequences have lasted far longer. For Iran’s Christians, Jews, and Baha’is, the end of the war signaled an increase in the crackdown against their communities and their beliefs.

As the noise increases threatening a round two between Iran and Israel in 2026, these communities must be looking on with growing alarm.