There has been a notable increase in arrests and hate speech against Christians since the conflict with Israel, Article18 can reveal.

More Christians have been arrested in the month since the ceasefire was announced than in the six months prior, with at least 54 documented arrests since 23 June, compared to 40 between 1 January and 23 June.

On 10 July, Article18 reported that at least 21 Christians had been arrested since the ceasefire, in five different cities – Tehran, Rasht, Orumiyeh, Kermanshah and Varamin. The number of documented arrests has now more than doubled, while the number of affected cities has nearly quadrupled, with Christians also known to have been targeted in Amol, Lahijan, Shiraz, Mashhad, Garmsar, Hamedan, Miandoab, Isfahan, Karaj, Takestan, Borujerd, Anzali, Neyshabur, and Nowshahr. 

Meanwhile, monitoring of news sites linked to the intelligence agencies of the Islamic Republic has shown a significant increase in hate speech against evangelical Christians during and since the conflict, with many seeking to paint them as co-conspirators with Israel. 

For example, two days after the ceasefire, on 25 June, the “Rahpouyan-e Hedayat” website claimed: “These days, the mask has fallen from many of the claimants of patriotism, and it should not be forgotten that the most active enemies of Iran at this critical moment were elements affiliated with the evangelical Christian movement, who were happy about the attack on Iran and prayed for the victory of the Zionist terrorists on virtual platforms and satellite networks.” 

And midway through the conflict, on 18 June, the “Ferghe News” website claimed: “The media elements of the Persian-speaking evangelical movement … stand directly opposite the Iranian nation and are only busy publishing favourable news for the Zionist regime. None of the elements and media of the evangelical movement, who falsely consider themselves supporters of the Iranian people, are allowed to react in the slightest to the [Israeli] regime’s aggressions against residential areas. It was proven again that the intellectual and doctrinal logic of the evangelical Christian movement is exactly the same as the racist and inhuman beliefs of the Zionist regime, and both are fed by the same thing: namely global Zionism.”

It added: “Today, the evangelical Christian movement is very happy with these created conditions and believes that the more the Zionist regime’s air raids and military operations inside the country increase, the path towards Zionist Christianity for the Iranian nation will become more accessible.”

Such rhetoric is in line with statements made by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who in an infamous speech 15 years ago claimed that the rise of house-churches in Iran were among the “critical threats” facing the Islamic Republic. 

Similar terminology has also been seen regularly in Christians’ official court documents, as highlighted in our 2025 annual report, which referenced one case in which a deputy prosecutor claimed that “the evangelical Christian sect, serving the interests of global imperialism, targets the faith of Muslim citizens, destabilising families and spreading immorality by attempting to convert people from Shi’a beliefs … thereby working towards the soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic.”

The increase of such rhetoric is particularly concerning in the wake of a newly proposed law, which seeks to enforce harsher punishments for those perceived to have collaborated with “hostile states” such as the United States or Israel, and which some of the arrested Christians have been threatened will be used against them.

Meanwhile, a number of Christian former prisoners of conscience and those whose court cases are ongoing have received calls from intelligence agencies, demanding them to explain their opinion about the war.

Article18 as an organisation has also come in for increased criticism, with the Rahpouyan-e Hedayat website claiming on 25 June that “the leadership of this organisation are the same people who, in their opinion, consider the Zionist regime’s air raids as legitimate and legal and for them there is no difference between the dear people of the country [Iran] and the Zionist Jews”.

This was despite the fact that a week earlier, Article18 had issued a statement calling for restraint from both sides.

Article18’s executive director, Mansour Borji, commented: “These and many other examples of hate speech clearly show incitement to violence against Christians, as recommendations are made to the security forces to identify and address a supposed threat. We are very concerned for the well-being of all Iranian Christians detained before the conflict and since the ceasefire with Israel, considering the past misuse of pseudo-legal provisions that use ambiguous and vaguely defined language as pretexts to justify violence and punitive measures against this vulnerable community.”