The exiled son of the former Shah of Iran has highlighted the “widespread and rampant persecution” of Christians and other religious minorities in the Islamic Republic.

In a post on X yesterday, Reza Pahlavi said his country was “once a bastion of religious liberty. But that changed with the Islamic Revolution of 1979”. 

Iran was once a bastion of religious liberty. But that changed with the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Alongside Jews and Baha’is, Iranian Christians immediately began to face widespread and rampant persecution. Christian and Catholic leaders were killed, detained, or forced to… https://t.co/V25i2NGaqh

— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) November 19, 2024

“Alongside Jews and Baha’is, Iranian Christians immediately began to face widespread and rampant persecution,” he said. “Christian and Catholic leaders were killed, detained, or forced to flee the country…

“Today the persecution continues and Iranian Christians, especially Christian converts, are deprived of even the most basic rights, including access to churches.

“Christians are routinely imprisoned for their beliefs, facing absurd charges of ‘acts against national security’ and ‘collaboration and espionage for enemy states’.”

“Despite these daunting challenges”, Pahlavi said the Christian community “remains resilient”, and their “faith, courage, and hope serve as a testament to the enduring power of belief in the face of oppression”. 

However, he said “their struggle is far from over, and they need the support of the global Christian community more than ever”.

Pahlavi concluded by saying there was “hope” that the fall of the Islamic Republic would “pave the way for a new era of religious freedom in Iran and across the Middle East”. 

“A free and democratic Iran will once again embrace the diversity of faiths and beliefs that have been a part of our nation’s rich history for millennia,” he said. “Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Zoroastrians, and Muslims can once again live together in harmony, free to practice their religions without fear of persecution.”

Pahlavi’s post followed his interview with Catholic news agency EWTN, in which he spoke of the “loss of opportunities” and “discrimination” that religious minorities including Christians face in Iran, which has led many to flee the country, and called for the establishment of a secular democracy that would ensure the separation of religion from State.

For this to be achieved, he said there was not only a need for a return to the “maximum pressure [on the regime]” of President Trump’s first term in office, but also for “maximum support” for the Iranian people, which he said he believed could lead to a change similar to that seen with the fall of the Soviet Union or of apartheid in South Africa.

You can watch the full interview here.