Middle East Christians Prepare for a Possible New Conflict

August 16, 2024 — 8/16/2024 Middle East (International Christian Concern) — As religious tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate and Israel’s war with Hamas rages on, Christians caught in the middle are...

Encountering ‘Keyboard Jihadis’ in an Interconnected World

August 7, 2024 — 8/7/2024 (International Christian Concern) — Hostile face-to-face encounters naturally pose more of an immediate threat than online encounters. However, hostility expressed online can still cause emotional distress, and it can...

Christian Suffering Likely to Continue Under Iran’s New President

July 29, 2024 — 7/29/2024 Iran (International Christian Concern) — The election of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in early July, brings little hope for Christians living under the new regime due to the...

Armenian Christian Sentenced to 10 Years in Iranian Prison

June 20, 2024 — 6/20/2024 Iran (International Christian Concern) — After losing a court appeal in early June, Armenian Hakop Gochymayan received a 10-year prison sentence for allegedly participating in Christian activities in Iran. ...

Iranians in Shock Following Deaths of President, Foreign Minister

May 24, 2024 — 5/24/2024 Iran (International Christian Concern) — Iran is in shock following the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who perished in a helicopter crash on Sunday,...

Iranian Authorities Again Charge Active House Church Member

May 3, 2024 — 5/3/2024 Iran (International Christian Concern) — On March 11, Iranian authorities charged house church member Shabeddin “Shahab” Shahi with “propaganda against the Islamic regime.” Shahi recently appeared at a Revolutionary...

Christian Prisoner Denied Medical Care in Iran

May 1, 2024 — 4/30/2024 Iran (International Christian Concern) — Mina Khajavi, a 60-year-old Christian convert serving a six-year prison sentence in Iran, is currently being deprived of necessary medical attention within Tehran's Evin...

Armenian Christian Prisoner Hakop Gochumyan Trial Result Still Unknown

January 27, 2024 — 01/27/2024 Iran (International Christian Concern) – Armenian Christian Hakop Gochumyan is still being detained in Iran. Last summer Hakop, an Armenian citizen, traveled to Iran to visit his wife Elisa’s...

Middle East War Escalates, Fighting Spreads to Yemen

January 12, 2024 — 01/12/2024 Middle East (International Christian Concern) – As the Israeli-Gaza war reaches its 100th day, conflict threatens to escalate in other parts of the region. Nearly three months of daily...

Freedom Focus Report: Despite Government Persecution, the Iranian Church Grows

July 24, 2023 — 07/24/2023 Iran (International Christian Concern) – Escalating civil unrest in Iran has led to intensifying governmental pressure on Christians. Increasingly stricter laws concerning the hijab, which could land those "encouraging...

Iran’s Morality Police Resurface, Reigniting Protests

July 20, 2023 — 07/20/2023 Iran (International Christian Concern) – On July 16, Iran’s infamous morality police resurfaced for the first time since December 2022, reigniting the firestorm of protest from Iranian women and...

The World’s Fastest Growing Church

July 20, 2023 — 07/20/2023 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – To be a Christian in Iran 50 years ago meant to be a part of small ethnic groups of Armenians, Chaldeans, or Assyrians– communities...

The Death and Resurrection of the Church in the Middle East

July 13, 2023 — 07/13/2023 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – The headlines coming from the Middle East in the past few decades have seemed anything but comforting and hopeful: war, terrorism, social upheaval, natural...

Iran Executes Two Men Convicted of Blasphemy

May 9, 2023 — 5/09/2023 Iran (International Christian Concern) - Iran executed two Iranian men for alleged charges of blasphemy. Yusef Mehrdad and Sadrullah Fazeli Zare were sentenced to death by hanging after they...

China Brokers Deal Restoring Diplomatic Relations Between Iran, Saudi Arabia

March 22, 2023 — United States (International Christian Concern) – China recently brokered a diplomatic agreement to normalize relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two historic rivals. The deal marks a significant shift in...

Cutting Through the Silence

March 9, 2023 — 03/09/2023 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Simply the mention of Iran in the international media evokes a certain level of controversy and alarm. But how did the Middle East’s second-largest...