Shrine of Shah Cheragh in Shiraz, Iran. (Herbert Karim Masihi)

LONDON (Morning Star News) – As leaders of Iran continue to blame and punish Christians for their alleged part in the regime’s political and military troubles of last year, a new report outlines the persecution that Christians in the Islamic Republic suffered in 2025.

Calling Iran’s “12-day war” of June 13-24 a pivotal moment that “impacted all Iranians but left minorities especially vulnerable to targeting and scapegoating,” advocacy group Article 18’s annual report noted that in less than one month after the ceasefire, agents with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) spread out across at least 19 different cities in the country, arrested more than 50 Christians and accused them of involvement in “anti-security” activities.

In the report, “Scapegoats: Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran,” Article 18 in partnership with Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Middle East Concern reported that MOIS issued a statement labeling Christians “Mossad mercenaries,” a reference to Israel’s intelligence agency, who were “trained abroad” by churches in the United States and Israel and had acted “under the guise of the ‘Zionist’ Christian evangelization movement.”

In August, state media released a video report essentially admitting officials monitor converts who travel outside of Iran. They showed footage of some of the arrested Christians at a church gathering in Türkiye and aired forced confessions where Christians admitted to traveling overseas to receive religious instruction.

The government also increasingly criminalized the possession of Bibles, especially ones imported from outside the country.

Overall, the trend of persecution continues to get worse in Iran. According to the report, nearly twice as many Christians were arrested for their faith in 2025 than in 2024; 254 Christians were arrested on charges related to their faith or religious activities last year, compared with 139 the prior year.

Christians were also sentenced more severely, receiving more than 280 combined years in prison, “a higher figure than 2024, despite involving fewer individuals, conveying a trend towards harsher sentences,” the report reads. More than 11 Christians were issued sentences of more than 10 years.

In 90 percent of the cases against Christians, charges were brought under Article 500, which was amended in 2021 and criminalizes “propaganda contrary to the holy religion of Islam.”

At the end of last year, 59 Christians were either serving sentences or being held in prison awaiting trial. Mistreatment of Christian prisoners is becoming more common, according to the report. Ill-treatment includes denial of healthcare, psychological torture and physical abuse.

One Christian detainee who received his second 10-year sentence in 2025 was prevented from attending his mother’s funeral, and another Christian convert sentenced alongside him suffered a stroke while held in solitary confinement.

“In October, a Christian convert fractured her spine after falling from her prison bunk bed and only received necessary surgery after fellow prisoners protested on her behalf,” the report reads. “She later developed an infection after being returned from hospital too soon, and was said to be at risk of paralysis.”

Prison officials refused medical treatment for one Christian prisoner after she broke two fingers in a fall. When she was released after serving 15 years, she was in a severe “psychologically unstable state” after spending the final weeks of her sentencing in a MOIS-controlled wing of her prison, Article 18 reported.

In the last week of the 2025, protests over the economy, inflation and the oppressiveness of the Islamic regime began springing up all over the country. Thousands took to the streets, and thousands have been imprisoned or killed. Estimates of Christians killed in the civil unrest have been low, with Article 18 estimating at least 19 while other groups cite at least 50.

“The road ahead for Iran appears far from clear, but as we release this latest annual report of rights violations committed against Christians in 2025, we stand with the people of Iran in their call for leaders who will act on their behalf, rather than repress them,” that study states.

The report was published on Feb. 19, the 46th anniversary of the murder of the Rev. Arastoo Sayyah.  Sayyah was killed on Feb. 19, 1979, in his church office in Shiraz just eight days after the end of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. He was the first Christian known to be killed for his faith in the nascent years of the Islamic Republic.

Iran ranked 10^th on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List (WWL) of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

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