Remember Those in Prison: What Is Happening to Iran's Christians Right Now

Reports from the Wall · Dispatch

When a twelve-day war between Iran and Israel ended in the summer of 2025, the ceasefire did not bring peace to everyone inside Iran. Within weeks, the state went looking for someone to blame at home — and it turned on its own Christian citizens. This is a timely dispatch in our Reports from the Wall series, written while the arrests are still happening.

“Remember those in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”
— Hebrews 13:3 (ESV)

The scapegoats of a twelve-day war

According to Scapegoats, the 2026 annual report compiled by Article18 together with Open Doors, CSW, and Middle East Concern, 254 Christians were arrested in Iran in 2025 for their faith or religious activity — nearly double the 139 arrested the year before. 57 of them were made to serve prison terms, internal exile, or forced-labour sentences, up from 25 the previous year.

In the weeks right after the ceasefire, at least 54 Christians were arrested across 21 cities. Iran's Ministry of Intelligence announced it had “neutralised” 53 “trained elements” — its chosen term for evangelical Christians. In the language of the state, house churches are “enemy groups” belonging to a “Zionist cult.” A living room with a Bible in it is treated as a national security threat.

The Book they risk everything to read

Here is the detail that tells you everything about the fear behind the crackdown: Persian-speaking converts cannot legally worship in Farsi anywhere in Iran. The recognized churches are permitted to hold services — but not in the national language, and not for converts. So the fastest-growing part of the Iranian Church meets in secret, in homes, reading Scripture in the only language that reaches their hearts, knowing the cost if the door is knocked.

They do it anyway. That is not recklessness. It is hunger for the Word so deep that prison is a price they have already counted.

Three things you can do today

You are not powerless here. Concrete work is already happening that you can stand behind:

• Read and share the verified record. Article18 documents every arrest and sentence by name and case, so the world cannot claim it did not know.
• Give directly to the frontline. Open Doors and The Voice of the Martyrs support Iranian believers and the families of those imprisoned.
• Put the Word in their language. Wycliffe Bible Translators and its partners fund the Scripture work that no prison door can stop.

Where ChristKeys stands

Unlocked Global Missions is the giving program of ChristKeys. Ten percent of every order is set aside and granted to established frontline organizations serving the persecuted Church and translating Scripture for the languages still waiting for it. We publish where the money goes. We are not asking you to give to us — we are asking you to look, to pray, and to give directly to the people already standing on the wall in Iran.

The world is busy. The watchmen are not. This is us, keeping watch.