The Islamic Republic of Iran has once again been named among the world’s worst violators of religious freedom (FoRB) by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

In its latest annual report, released yesterday, the independent, bipartisan organisation recommended that Iran be one of 13 countries to be re-designated as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) by the State Department for “engaging in systematic, ongoing and egregious violations” of FoRB.

The report notes that Christians were portrayed by state media as “national enemies” in 2025 and labelled “Mossad mercenaries”, and that at least 143 were arrested.

It references the cases of Joseph Shahbazian, Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Mehdi Rahimi, Kia Nourinia, Morteza Faghanpour-Saasi, who were collectively sentenced to over 50 years in prison on charges related to their religious activities in 2025.

It also notes that Iran was among the countries with the most reports of both torture and medical neglect of religious prisoners of conscience.

Among its recommendations to the US government, USCIRF calls for the reopening and permanent reauthorisation of the Lautenberg-Specter Program, which allows persecuted Iranian religious minorities to resettle in the United States, and for an increase to the ceiling of the annual US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).

According to the report, since the suspension of the programme, “about 130,000 conditionally approved refugees, including religious minorities from … Iran … remain in limbo, along with 15,000 registered Iranian Christians, Jews, and Baha’is.”

The report references the deportation of 11 Iranian Christian converts to Panama in 2025, saying that they “reportedly requested asylum but did not receive credible fear interviews, despite the risk these individuals would face if returned to Iran”.

It also cites the reported deportation of 54 Iranians, including a Christian convert, back to Iran in September.

It adds: “There were reports that some individuals fleeing religious persecution whose parole was revoked received notices to self-deport, including … Iranians.”

USCIRF calls on the State Department to “resume the resettlement of refugees fleeing religious persecution to help alleviate the ongoing crisis involving millions of such refugees worldwide” and to “reestablish full asylum access for individuals fleeing religious persecution to mitigate the risk of refoulement.”

It also notes that the State Department’s designation of Iran as a CPC, last issued in 2023, has now officially expired, as it has not yet been “expressly reauthorised by law”.