Iran (MNN) – The United States and Iran had a third round of nuclear talks yesterday as Washington seeks to block Iran’s nuclear program, and Tehran wants sanctions lifted. Yet, the Iranian regime is still dealing with threats of revolution at home and growing opposition abroad.
We spoke with Edwin Keshish-Abnous, executive director of Heart4Iran, a ministry spreading the Gospel in Iran through Christian programming and Bible distribution.
He says, “Even though the protest has quieted down, the people are still chanting out of their rooftops…and recently, the students have started protesting on their campuses and in the major cities.”
(Photo courtesy Heart4Iran)
Meanwhile, grief continues to hang like a cloud over Iran as families mourn the loss of loved ones killed since the protests erupted on December 28. In Iranian tradition, you mark the 40th day of someone’s death, and many of those commemorations took place this week.
According to Keshish-Abnous, the killing of protestors hasn’t stopped. “One crazy story that happened recently was a 13-year-old boy. He was injured [and] in the hospital. His brother goes over there to take care of him in the hospital; they come kill both that teenager and also the brother…. Later on, [the father] comes to collect the bodies, and they kill the father. So almost every family is affected somehow by losing someone.”
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi, has garnered support from many Iranians, but it hasn’t been enough so far to enact regime change.
From Keshish-Abnous’s perspective, “There is one major element that is necessary for revolution – defection from inside the government. If that does not happen…there’s a good chance that [revolution] won’t happen until there is a military and outside foreign intervention.”
Amid the conflict and fog of blocked communications, Christians and other minorities are under particular pressure.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Heart4Iran)
“We need to pay attention to the Christians inside the country because not only are they going through the same pain and the challenges and persecution, but also they add to that their faith because they are easily targeted,” says Keshish-Abnous. “The Iranian government has a perfect opportunity and excuse to label them as a enemy of the state and put them in jail. That happens regularly. We have lost some Christians during this latest revolution.
“But even though we’re afraid and worried about them, the reality is they’re continuing their mission.”
Heart4Iran knows of new Iranian believers getting baptized even in the last few weeks. God is still moving.
Keshish-Abnous asks for prayers “for the Church to stay strong – because when the challenges come, when the problems arise, the Church is the one entity that is sacrificial to step forward and help the rest of the world. That is where our humanitarian efforts, our charities, and love that we have towards other people will set us aside from the rest of the faiths, and will show and prove to them that Christianity is about love.”
Also, he asks, “Pray that this can be negotiated or something happens within the country…. And also, I want to pray for the economy not to be affected more than it is affected now, because at the end, the regular population [is] being affected and their livelihood is in danger. They’re really struggling to have a regular, safe life.”
Learn more about Heart4Iran’s critical ministry here.
Header photo: Iranian protest in Canada. (Photo courtesy of Sima Ghaffarzadeh via Pexels)
