Surrounded by a crowd of resolute Iranians during a demonstration in London in March, Sasan Tavassoli introduced himself as a pastor to the London-based Iran International reporter covering the events. Tricolor green, white, and red flags fluttered behind him, with the former monarchial yellow Lion and Sun emblem replacing the current central stylized “Allah” of the Islamic Republic.
As some chanted their support for Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah deposed by the 1979 revolution, the Presbyterian missionary told the satellite news broadcaster the Islamic regime is a cancer that needs to be removed for the sake of peace in the region. Born in 1968 in Tehran, Tavassoli became a Christian in Portugal in 1985, a year after his parents sent him abroad to avoid being drafted into the Iran-Iraq War. He has lived in Atlanta since 1995.
Two days after his interview, he received a rare message from inside Iran.
“Thank you for being our voice,” said his nominally Muslim cousin. “I’m proud of you.”
The Iranian government shut down the internet after the February 28 US-Israeli attack on Iran. Earlier, in January, officials caused a 20-day blackout during widespread antiregime protests, during which security forces killed thousands of demonstrators. In March, Netblocks reported connectivity at about 1 percent of normal levels, as only sporadic emails and social media texts seep through.
Yet satellite TV is still able to bring in news from abroad, circumventing state-run media. Reporters Without Borders ranks Iran No. 177 out of 180 countries in press freedom. But digital signals—including from Christian broadcasters—beam through space to millions of rooftop dishes, enabling Tavassoli’s cousin to take pride in her outspoken relative.
The internet blackout means that Iranian Christian leaders in the diaspora have had near-zero communication with pastors in Iran. Families are in the dark about their relatives, fearing the worst. Even so, six sources told CT the little they heard, reporting unanimity against the theocratic regime.
But not all had the same view of the war and its current shaky ceasefire. On Sunday, President Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that “the Clock is Ticking” for Iran to accept a peace agreement, or “there won’t be anything left of them.” Then on Monday, he announced he was calling off a scheduled attack on Iran as “serious negotiations” for the peace deal were taking place.
Meanwhile, a different Muslim cousin told Tavassoli the conflict will only radicalize authorities further. He prefers gradual reform, led internally by Iranians apart from US-Israeli intervention.
Tavassoli’s third interaction was with a leader within an underground house church network. This pastor hoped that the war might free Iranians from the Islamic regime, whose persecution of Christian converts prompts the Open Doors World Watch List to rank Iran the No. 10 hardest country to be a believer. But he also lamented the difficult economic conditions.
The financial struggle dominated conversations within Iran Alive, a Christian satellite ministry based in Texas. Hormoz Shariat said his team has had up to 20 interactions with their pastors in Iran, one of whom has a Starlink connection. They use their precious time online to coordinate distribution of aid.
“Many cannot even buy eggs,” Shariat said.
Some of Iran’s pain is self-inflicted. Its Chamber of Commerce’s knowledge-based economy commission estimated the internet shutdown costs the nation at least $30 million per day. And amid the standoff with the West, sanctions, inflation, and corruption have reduced personal income from $8,000 a year in 2012 to $5,000 in 2024.
But US and Israeli missiles have hit 23,000 factories and firms, impacting two million jobs, according to the Iranian government. Applications for unemployment insurance have tripled since the war began, and the Quincy Institute estimates disruptions to shipping put half of all Iranian jobs at risk.
More than 4 million people may soon fall into poverty, said the United Nations.
Yet pastors within the Iran Alive network say that the economic pain will be worth it if the regime falls, Shariat said. When talk of ceasefire negotiations goes up, their hope goes down. And amid the suffering, they are seeing amazing stories of salvation.
Several years ago, one Iranian Muslim announced faith in Christ to his family and was immediately rejected, Shariat said. His uncle threatened to inform the police and said he would watch his eventual hanging in person. Since the attacks, the uncle has called his nephew and asked to learn more about Jesus. The regime’s behavior, including the killing of thousands of protesters in January, has soured many against Islam, Shariat said.
Saghar Erica Kasraie echoed his sentiments.
“They do not see this war as a war,” said the founder of Living Water Productions, a Christian media ministry. “They see it as a rescue operation.”
With the help of Starlink, Kasraie has had about 10 interactions with people inside Iran that she calls “freedom fighters.” Some are pastors, while others are secular activists. In addition to her ministry, Kasraie works to bring together faith leaders, international policymakers, diaspora activists, and civil society representatives to prepare for a post-theocratic Iran. Inside the country, her network is organizing opposition and documenting abuses, regardless of the consequences.
Those repercussions may be severe. According to the diaspora-run IranWire, when Iranian police discovered a Starlink device in one person’s home, they beat him to death. Pahlavi mentioned the incident in a social media post, adding, “The world cannot stay silent.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Christian journalist Fred Petrossian urged caution toward trusting Iranian media, whether inside the country or abroad. He has not had any interactions with people in Iran but supports their fight against repression. Yet while the suffering population lives within a “digital iron cage,” Petrossian wrote, much outside media reflects the biases of connected international funders.
Petrossian, who works with UK-based advocacy group Article18, recently reported how many in the diaspora call the UK state broadcaster’s Persian service “Ayatollah BBC” due to its perceived sympathies toward the regime. An Iranian journalist said Voice of America fired him to curb his coverage of the former shah’s son. Meanwhile, Pahlavi recruited supporters in Iran to join his campaign through a QR code broadcasted only by Iran International. The media company has denied accusations of Saudi funding to promote the crown prince.
Petrossian’s Article18 colleague Steve Dew-Jones hopes that whatever comes next, it will give greater freedom for Iranian Christians to practice their faith. Monitoring abuses, he has received only “dribs and drabs” of communication about imprisoned believers. Yet he heard reports that Iran’s elite police force has taken over jails, where they are denying medical care and providing only one low-quality meal per day.
Given the oppressive environment, one Christian leader in the UK requested anonymity lest his remarks compromise his ministry’s network in Iran. From three interactions with Christians inside Iran, he related that prior to the ceasefire they could not sleep at night, afraid their buildings would be bombarded. They had great expectations at first for regime change, but the situation now is “unbearable.”
One of the three is still hopeful. The second is praying the theocracy might yet fall. The third, said the leader, is cursing Trump.
The anonymous source’s family is still inside Iran, and he has heard nothing from them. At first, he was excited about foreign intervention. Now he is worried.
“Regime survival is better than the complete destruction of infrastructure,” he said. “I am praying for the war to end.”
Diversity of thought came through in another triad of interactions. Ronald MacMillan, chairman of the International Institute for Religious Freedom, collected three extended responses from Iranian pastors inside Iran. They make no suggestion their views are representative. But they reflect deeply personal struggles.
“I was shocked that we were being encouraged to get onto the streets and protest again, just weeks after we had been massacred,” a pastor in Isfahan told MacMillan, referring to Trump’s call for Iranians to “take back their country” from the regime.
This pastor said he doesn’t know anyone who wants the regime to survive. On February 11—the anniversary of the founding of the Islamic Republic—mosque loudspeakers blared words of national celebration. They were drowned out by people’s cries from open windows, chanting, “Death to the dictator,” he said.
Even so, some are souring on the war, said a pastor in Tehran from one of the recognized ethnic Christian sects. He expressed his belief that Israel is targeting Iran’s economic base, not just its military installations. The country will take years to rebuild no matter what comes next. He suspects the regime will remain.
“Don’t fool yourself,” he told MacMillan. “There are a lot of people who back the government, certainly enough to keep control.”
The third pastor is not so sure. Prior to faith in Christ, he was an accomplished Shiite theologian. The government, he said, is run by a “death cult” that will not surrender and glories in martyrdom. The vast majority of Iranians want the regime to fall, he said. But he is afraid Iran may eventually resemble Iraq after the American invasion in 2003, where a well-armed insurgency ensures instability. Personally, however, he prefers a decade of “mess” over another day of oppression.
But his trust is only in God.
“All sides seem to lie and boast and threaten,” he said. “I am used to my own leaders lying all the time, but the American leaders (it seems to me) can’t be trusted either. I can’t tell the difference.”
Amid the confusion is intense family suffering. One Iranian pastor in Turkey told Mark Bradley, author of Iran and Christianity, that he did not know whether his brother was alive or dead after a bombing in the port city of Bandar Imam. The uncertainty was torture. After about a week, he finally learned that his brother survived—but that eight of the brother’s employees died in the strike.
Who can know what 93 million Iranians think? Bradley wondered.
“It is impossible to gauge,” he said. “Our concern must be for the gospel and the growth of the church in Iran.”
The post Cut Off from the World, Iran’s Christians Worry, Suffer, and Pray appeared first on Christianity Today.
