Christians in Iran are being shot, arrested, and killed for demanding basic freedoms—yet the Islamic regime finds time to broadcast Tucker Carlson’s propaganda claiming Israel persecutes Christians. The blood of Iranian Christians flows in the streets while Tehran’s propaganda machine works to deflect attention toward the one Middle Eastern nation where Christians are actually safe.
Since December 28, 2025, Iran has been engulfed in its largest nationwide uprising in years, with demonstrations spanning all 31 provinces without interruption. Christians have joined protesters from every background, and they are paying the price. According to ARTICLE 18, a London-based nonprofit dedicated to religious freedom in Iran, seven Iranian Christians of Armenian origin were killed by security forces in recent days. Armenian media outlets confirmed the death of Ejmin Masihi in Tehran, with unconfirmed reports of three other Iranian Armenians wounded. One Christian reported that police opened fire on two of his nephews in Shiraz, sending both to the hospital.
The regime’s crackdown has been systematic and brutal. At least 10 Christians were arrested before January 4 in three locations in Fars province. Security forces raided homes of believers, according to one pastor from an unregistered church: “Security forces raided the homes of several believers, accusing us of providing ideological fuel for the street protests. Our people remain confined to their homes, yet the raids continue relentlessly.”
The death toll has reached catastrophic levels—at least 2,500 protesters confirmed killed, though rights groups place the true figure far higher, perhaps as high as 12,000 or even 20,000. The regime shut down internet access on January 8, making it nearly impossible to verify developments and creating the perfect cover for arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.
Christians who convert from Islam face particular danger. In Iran, Farsi-speaking Christians are considered enemies of the state and are frequently accused of crimes against national security. “The Iranian government is increasingly using the Christian minority as a scapegoat, accusing believers of inciting and leading these demonstrations,” explained a Barnabas Aid project manager responsible for Iran. “We saw a coordinated effort to link the church to the economic unrest. One of our brothers was arrested simply because he was seen talking to a group of shopkeepers.”
“The government is desperate to find a leader for this leaderless movement and considers Christians an easy target because of our international connections,” said “M,” a believer in the region. “H,” a pastor of an unofficial church, described the atmosphere: “The authorities aren’t just looking for protesters; they’re looking for targets they can use to tell a story of foreign interference. They raided several homes of believers, claiming that we are the ones providing the ‘ideological fuel’ for the marches in the streets. Our people are staying home, but the door-to-door searches are relentless.”
Christians have responded to the crisis not with violence but with chesed—loving kindness. Hormoz Shariat, president of Iran Alive Ministries, reported that Christians are providing food and water to demonstrators. One Christian couple prepared approximately 50 sandwiches, carrying them in backpacks with bottles of water to distribute in the streets. Other Christians are treating injured protesters in their homes, away from the authorities.
“Christians are on the streets and some of them in the past have been killed,” Shariat told Baptist Press through Starlink satellite, bypassing the government-enforced internet blackout. “Yesterday, as I was doing a live broadcast, news came, and a person outside Iran called and said, ‘My nephew has been shot in Iran. He’s a Christian, and he’s hiding in a home. Please pray for him.'”
At least one wounded person accepted Jesus after a Christian nurse took him into their home, treated his wounds, and shared the Gospel. “This person called, and he said, ‘I was wounded on the streets. And then somebody took me home as I was fleeing and bleeding. The person was a nurse, and they dressed my wound. And then I realized they are Christians, and they shared the Gospel with me, and I just came to Jesus,” the newfound believer said.
The Iranian regime’s persecution of Christians is not new—it intensified in the 1990s with a wave directed primarily against Christians involved in evangelism and church ministries. Christians have participated in previous uprisings, including the 2019 protests where at least one Iranian-Assyrian was among the more than 300 killed, and the 2022-2023 “Women, Life, Freedom” protests that saw over 500 killed and marked the first time Iranian churches and Christian leaders openly criticized the regime.
This current uprising represents a shift. The protests began when the bazaari—merchants and traders historically aligned with the Shiite clerical establishment—took to the streets as Iran’s rial dropped to a record low of 1.42 million to the dollar. These same merchants played a crucial role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the shah and established the current regime. Their participation signals the regime’s loss of its traditional base. Beyond currency collapse, Iran faces acute energy and water crises. In November, Iran’s president discussed relocating Tehran—a city of nearly 10 million—to the southern coast due to water shortages.
Christians in Iran, who number close to 1 million according to some estimates, are voicing support for this uprising—a significant departure from past tendencies to avoid politics. Nathan Rostampour of The Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, urgently asked believers to pray for Iranians risking their lives for freedom: “This is a moment for the Church to rise. Men and women are being beaten, imprisoned, and killed in the streets simply for demanding freedom, dignit,y and the right to live. When the world cannot see, injustice multiplies. When voices are silenced, lives are lost.”
The Iranian regime has been broadcasting Tucker Carlson’s false accusations that Israel persecutes Christians. This is propaganda warfare at its most cynical. While Tehran massacres Christians in the streets, it promotes Carlson’s lies to deflect international attention from its crimes and to isolate Israel, the only nation in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing.
Israel is home to approximately 187,000 Christians who enjoy full religious freedom, serve in parliament, hold positions as judges and diplomats, and live without fear of persecution. The Christian population in Israel has grown consistently since the establishment of the state in 1948. Churches operate freely, Christian holy sites are protected, and Christians celebrate their holidays openly.
This stands in absolute contrast to the treatment of Christians throughout the Islamic world. In the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, the Christian population has plummeted from 18 percent in 1948 to less than 2 percent today due to systematic persecution, intimidation, and violence. Hamas, the terrorist organization controlling Gaza, has driven nearly all Christians from the territory through terror and murder. Bethlehem, once a majority-Christian city, is now overwhelmingly Muslim after decades of Palestinian Authority rule.
Christians across Africa and the Middle East face genocide at the hands of Islamist movements. In Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, and Syria, Christians are murdered, churches are burned, and entire communities are eradicated. The world’s most persecuted religious group is Christians living under Islamic rule.
Yet Tucker Carlson chose to accuse Israel—the one safe haven for Christians in the region—of persecution. The Iranian regime eagerly broadcasts this blood libel because it serves Tehran’s strategic interests: isolating Israel internationally while deflecting attention from Iran’s actual persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.
Carlson’s claims are demonstrably false, yet dangerous. They provide propaganda ammunition to regimes like Iran that are actively murdering Christians. They undermine the truth about who actually protects Christians and who slaughters them. They betray the suffering of Iranian, Nigerian, Pakistani, and Arab Christians who look to Israel as an example of how religious minorities should be treated.
Iranian Christians are dying for demanding the most basic human rights. They are being scapegoated by a regime desperate to maintain power. They are being hunted because of their faith and their international connections. They are treating the wounded, feeding the hungry, and sharing the Gospel even as security forces kick down their doors.
President Trump has threatened military intervention on behalf of the protesters. Shariat voiced concern about Iran’s promised retaliation and its enriched uranium stockpile sufficient for four to five atomic bombs: “Pray for Trump and Israel because they’re saying they are considering intervening. May God use them and not the enemy, that they will be a positive influence in Iran. We need to bind that spirit of death. In Islam, killing and dying for the cause of Islam is honorable. So once they have the atomic bomb, nothing stops them.”
As Iranian Christians risk everything for freedom, Western Christians have a moral obligation to speak the truth. Israel protects Christians. Iran, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and Islamist movements across Africa and the Middle East murder them. This is not complicated. This is not subject to debate. This is reality written in the blood of martyrs.
The Iranian regime broadcasts Tucker Carlson because his false accusations against Israel serve Tehran’s interests. Christians must reject this propaganda and stand with the truth. Iranian Christians are being shot in the streets. Nigerian Christians are being slaughtered by the thousands. Egyptian Christians live in fear. Iraqi and Syrian Christians have been nearly eliminated. Palestinian Christian communities have been decimated under Muslim rule.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Christian population continues to grow. The contrast could not be clearer. The choice for Christians could not be simpler. Stand with Israel, the protector of Christians, or echo the propaganda of Iran, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority—the murderers of Christians.
Iranian Christians are not asking for sympathy. They are asking for truth. They are asking the world to see what the Islamic regime is doing to them and to all Iranians crying out for freedom. They are asking Christians in the West to stop believing lies about Israel and start confronting the reality of Islamic persecution.
The time has come for Christians to stand with other Christians, to reject the propaganda of Christian-murdering regimes, and to acknowledge the simple truth: Israel is a haven for Christians in a region where Islamic rule means Christian persecution. Every Christian who spreads lies about Israel while ignoring the massacre of Christians in Iran, Africa, and across the Islamic world becomes complicit in that persecution. Iranian Christians are bleeding in the streets. The least Western Christians can do is tell the truth about who is killing them—and who would protect them if they could escape.
