An Iranian woman at the ruins of Persepolis, Iran. – IMB photo
TEHRAN, Iran (BP) – Can conditions get any worse for Iranian Christians? Can conditions get any better? Iranian evangelist Hormoz Shariat told Baptist Press the dichotomy kicks him in the gut every year.
Shariat, founder of Iran Alive Ministries, has preached Christ to Iranians by satellite and trained church planters there for more than two decades, documenting more than 120,000 salvations amid Iran’s Islamic regime’s intense persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.
Two weeks after the U.S. killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an escalating war, Shariat believes the biblical prophecy of Jeremiah 49:34-39 is being fulfilled. He sees in Iran modern-day Elam, whose leaders God promises to destroy before establishing His throne.
“And that’s happening,” Shariat told Baptist Press. “The fulfillment of that is happening really fast. Iran has the fastest growing evangelical population, and we see thousands coming to Christ every month. And even with this massacre (of protestors) that happened a couple of months ago, the rate of conversion to Christianity has increased. We have seen the signs, and we expect it to rise again, and more people will come to Christ.”
Others Baptist Press interviewed – Iranian native and minister Nathan Rostampour of The Summit Church in North Carolina and professor Phil Hopkins of Gateway Seminary – steer clear of prophetic or biblical relevance of the war. But like Shariat, they voice grave concern and compassion for Christians in Iran, calling U.S. Christians to respond in prayer and other outreaches.
Rostampour, Persian Ministry director of The Summit Church and founding president of Ekklesia Mission, hopes the war is an opportunity for Iranian Christians to rise from oppression.
“I want to say clearly to my brothers and sisters in America: as an American citizen and as an Iranian-American, neither I nor many within the Iranian Church and the broader Iranian community see this conflict as a war against Iran,” Rostampour told Baptist Press. “Rather, we see it as a struggle for Iran. In many ways, we understand it as a rescue mission for more than 90 million unarmed Iranians who long for freedom, dignity and a future without oppression.”
Rostampour fled 15 years ago his homeland and the Islamic regime that has ruled Iran for 47 years.
“The United States of America received me with compassion and granted me refuge. Today, as a grateful American citizen, I offer my sincere thanks to the president of the United States and to the American armed forces for standing alongside the people of Iran in this critical hour,” Rostampour said. “The overwhelming majority of Iranians long to see this oppressive Islamic regime come to an end.”
Rostampour said he and many others had hoped Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran’s former Shah the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, would lead a transitional period toward a democratic government putting control in the hands of the people.
But Iran has instead chosen as its supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose wife was among six of his family members killed in the U.S. strike that killed his father the ayatollah. Khamenei was injured in the strike but is recovering, The Guardian reported.
Hopkins, chair of Gateway’s Missions and Intercultural Studies Department, and associate editor of the “IRAN: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies,” encourages Christians here to make sure their conclusions regarding the war are well informed.
“History indicates that the war could hurt Christians in Iran. I personally think the war will hurt Christianity in Iran,” said Hopkins, who ministered for nearly 20 years with Iranians while a professor in Turkey, Armenia and the United Kingdom. “Christianity has increased spiritually and numerically in Iran, especially among the Muslim population.
“I am concerned the war will change this and that Christianity will again be seen as a foreign religion and decrease spiritually and numerically in Iran, as America is considered a Christian nation,” he said. “What America does often in the minds of Iranians represents Christianity.”
Hopkins encourages skepticism.
“Everybody has biases, so research claims yourself and hold to your conclusions lightly,” Hopkins cautions. “Use different media sources including those from outside the U.S. and ones that hold to different ideologies than yours.”
Shariat, whose daily broadcasts to Iran were interrupted for five days during the war, said Christians in Iran have welcomed the airstrikes in hopes the current regime will be toppled. But Shariat also concedes that Iran’s culture will make democracy difficult to establish there.
“The culture of nations in the Middle East doesn’t match democracy,” Shariat said. “Democracy is based on Christian values, and you have to value the other person’s life and opinion. That’s non-existent in Islam and the Islamic culture. Islam might be defeated in Iran, but the Islamic culture will take time to be eradicated from Iran. You need a cultural transformation. And by the way, nobody can do cultural transformation better than Jesus.”
If the war doesn’t topple the regime, Christians in Iran will face reenergized persecution, Shariat lamented.
“There will be a new major wave of persecution for Christians,” Shariat said. “Because the government of Iran is afraid of Christians. They know Christianity is growing very fast. They feel endangered by Christians, and they will try their best to stop this growth of Christians.”
Iran’s government “will be very brutal,” Shariat said. “Many Christians will be arrested. Many will die like never before. This wave of persecution, if the government stays, is going to be wide and it’s going to be very ugly for Christians and non-Christians.”
Estimates of the number of Christians in Iran range between several hundred thousand to a couple of million who worship in a network of underground churches. Christians and other religious minorities including Jews and those of the Baha’i faith, comprise about 0.3 percent of Iran’s 88.4 million people, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its 2026 Annual Report.
Shariat, Hopkins and Rostampour urge prayer for Iran, for the faith and perseverance of its Christians, as well as the defeat of evil.
“Today, the people of Iran carry deep wounds,” Rostampour said. “Fear, uncertainty and grief fill many hearts as families mourn the loss of loved ones. Yet even in the midst of sorrow, hope is rising.
“(Iranian Christians) know that Christians around the world are praying for them. They know that Iranians living abroad stand with them. And they know that the United States – its leadership and its military – stands beside them as well. This knowledge brings real encouragement in a very dark hour.”
Note: Story was originally published by Baptist Press.
