Lana Silk of Transform Iran describes the reality facing children in the country, including those caught up in the protests.

“The children are caught up in it. Children as young as 10, 11, and 12 have been part of the protests [and] have been arrested and killed. I’ve heard reports of girls as young as 12 being raped in custody. The government is indiscriminate.”

(Photo courtesy of Transform Iran)

Silk says children in Iran are dealing with multi-layered trauma, and need Jesus more than ever.

“Children are…very aware that they have no future in this country and have grown up sooner than you would normally want your 10-, 11-, 12-year-old to grow up and are aware that this is a necessary fight to secure their own future.”

Transform Iran is discipling believers in the Iranian underground Church. Christian children in Iran have been forced to live double lives under the oppressive Islamist regime.

“They have to profess Islam at school, recite the Quran, hide their faith, and then come home and have a Christian life,” Silk explains. “So that is very, very taxing for children when they’ve got to constantly remember who they can say what to, and try to muddle through and remember what’s true and what’s right.”

As you continue to pray for Iran, Silk asks believers to remember the youngest generation.

“I want us to remember the children and to be praying specifically for them…. This is the future of Iran. [Pray] that there will be stability in the future of Iran.

“Jesus does appear to people in dreams and visions in Iran! Let that be the children – that these children have encounters that they can talk about when they’re older and say, ‘Oh my goodness. While it was all happening, I remember that man in white that came to me in my dreams,’ and for that generation to be redeemed.”

Learn more about Transform Iran’s ministry at transformiran.com.

Header photo courtesy of Transform Iran.

Mediators from Qatar, Turkiye, and Egypt are helping steer the talks by offering Iran and the United States a shared set of discussion guidelines.

Middle East expert Mike Ansari (formerly with Heart4Iran) says it seems Washington is trying to avoid further hostilities, even as warnings remain stark on both sides.

“President Trump has basically been very vocal, saying that if it comes to having conflict, we are not going to back off and we are going to go in heavy. Iran says any kind of action from the United States against Iran would trigger a regional conflict. So at this moment, it appears that President Trump is giving diplomacy a chance to avoid any kind of conflict.”

(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

But inside Iran, Ansari says diplomacy abroad hasn’t eased pressure at home.

Ongoing Repression

Protests erupted across Iran over the last several weeks, sparked largely by economic collapse. Retirees have lost pensions. Families have lost savings. Many Iranians believe national wealth is being diverted to fund proxy wars instead of meeting basic needs.

Ansari explains, “The atmosphere in Iran and the condition of living for average Iranians is so dismal that [the government] knew that there would be an organic uprising of people.”

Iranian officials responded with overwhelming force. Internet access was cut, and security forces moved quickly to suppress demonstrations. Ansari says reports from inside Iran describe widespread violence, mass arrests, and the targeting of wounded protesters.

Minority communities, including Christians, are once again feeling the pressure.

“Historically, whenever such uprisings take place in Iran, the minorities that include Bahais and the Jewish community and the Christian converts from Islam are subject to house raids and arrests,” says Ansari.

“Some of the leaders of the house churches that have had their houses raided have been arrested under the guise of being agents of Mossad and bringing discord into the Iranian government. Many of the people who have been arrested, we haven’t heard anything from them.”

Hope in the Spirit

(Screenshot of Prayercast’s Iran video)

Yet even in the darkness, the Holy Spirit is moving inside Iran.

Ansari says, “Many people are still reporting that they’re having dreams and visions. It’s amazing to know that God is way ahead of all of us…. We’ve seen acts of mercy by a lot of Iranian Christian converts, providing shelter to the people that are being wounded, helping them out, or just being kind to them. This is how the Gospel is spreading in Iran.”

Iran’s underground Church — long considered one of the fastest-growing in the world — is now facing what Ansari calls an “existential fight.”

“These are very difficult days for Iran, and these are the days that we’re asking the Church globally to lift Iran and Iranians in their prayers and also lift the underground Church, which is practically fighting for its existence, in your prayers.”

Header photo: Mutrah, Muscat, Oman (Photo courtesy of Muhammad Shoaib/Unsplash)

As Iran’s economic crisis deepens, authorities have imposed harsh measures that deplete what little savings citizens have left.

Nazanin Baghestani from Heart4Iran recalls a heartbreaking call from one mother. Her son was accused of stealing fifty dollars and fined five thousand dollars for his release.

“This mom was crying, and she said, This is injustice, and where do I get that money from?” adds Baghestani.

These steep fines are one way the government refills its coffers.

An Iranian woman stands at an overlook with a panoramic view of Tehran, Iran (Photo, caption courtesy of IMB CC 4.0)

“Of money, like 80% of all the government finance goes to the nuclear weapon, goes to war against Israel, weapons,” Baghestani explains.

She says less than ten percent of resources reach ordinary citizens. The result is food stortage, shuttered businesses, and failing banks. Since the United Nations reinstated sanctions in October, pressure on the population has only increased.

Yet amid the hardship, stories of hope continue to emerge.

One single mother who couldn’t afford school supplies for her son called the hotline for prayer.

“Two weeks later,” recalls Baghestani, “she called and said, My son’s classmate’s father just came and helped him. He came and gave him the books he needed.”

This act became pivotal in her faith journey. She had believed Jesus was only a prophet, but seeing such a quick answer to prayer changed her heart. “And she said, I always believed in Jesus, but now I believe He is alive — and He really listens,” adds Baghestani.

Kurdistan Province, Iran (photo courtesy of Peyvand Pezeshki via Pexels)

While there are many inspiring stories, fear of government discovery keeps many testimonies hidden.

“I’m sure God is at work in people’s lives and, you know, providing for them here and there,” Baghestani shares. “But unfortunately, we don’t always hear the testimonies because people are afraid to call.”

Pray that the hope of Christ will shine through Iran’s financial despair — in every family and community. Visit Heart4Iran to see how they find ways to encourage Iranians despite the crisis.

Header photo: Man in Mazandaran Province, Iran (photo courtesy of Lumière Rezaie via Unsplash).

John Pudaite of Bibles For The World (BFTW) says the trend is troubling. “Quite a number of people are being arrested under these laws. Churches are being attacked in the middle of worship, with police in tow. They’ll file false charges or charges of conversion against pastors and some of the worshipers there.”

A Catholic Church in Calangute, Goa. (Photo, caption courtesy of Adriana Rodricks/Unsplash)

The thing is, those charges rarely hold up in court. “They can never prove that the people were gathered…with an intent to convert,” Pudaite explains.

So why push for a tougher law? Pudaite says Maharashtra is looking to change the framing. “They are now trying to position Christian activities not so much in anti-conversion terms but as anti-national. That will be easier, they feel, to prove in court — that this is upsetting the fragile balance…of the Hindu majority in the country.”

Meanwhile, violence against Christians continues to rise. In just the first seven months of 2025, the Religious Liberty Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India documented 334 incidents — almost two per day.

“They know they can go in and attack churches,” Pudaite says. “Even recently, they arrested two Catholic nuns from a public train station and charged them with trafficking and anti-conversion laws.

“We are seeing the government of India just using the letter of the law down to the ‘nth’ degree against Christian organizations, just trying to find any little slip up and turning it into a major issue. In the process, the work of some wonderful organizations is being terribly restricted or completely eliminated from India.”

If Maharashtra’s law passes, India’s already tight space for religious minorities could shrink even further. For churches on the ground, the fear is that Sunday mornings will bring not just worship, but a knock on the door.

Pray for believers in India to stand firm under pressure. Ask God to protect church leaders from false accusations and give them wisdom.

You can also support BFTW here as they serve the Church in India and strengthen believers in the face of persecution.

Header photo courtesy of BFTW.

“From the very beginning, we knew that Ryan was carrying out a legitimate and needed flight and was completely innocent of the suspicions that were investigated,” said David Holsten, MAF President and CEO. “During this lengthy ordeal, Ryan and Annabel have faithfully trusted the Lord and experienced His sustaining care on many occasions. We are so grateful to everyone who has diligently prayed for the Koher family. We know that God will use this situation for His glory.”

Ryan Koher (Photo courtesy of MAF, used with permission from the Koher family.)

Ryan Koher responded to the news by saying, “It has been a long journey and an uphill battle at times, to get to this point of closure. I know this would not be possible without the many people who have been faithfully praying to this end. I would like to thank everyone for your prayers and love for our family. I pray that God will receive all the glory for His work in our lives.”

On November 2, 2022, Koher left the AAL base in Nampula for a five-hour flight to Inhambane on a Cessna 206. He met two South Africans who had brought supplies to be delivered to an orphanage in northern Mozambique. AAL has been conducting these supply flights to the
orphanage for several years.

While going through the normal security scan at the airport, police took an interest in some vitamins, over-the-counter medications, and food preservative supplies. They confiscated the entire load and detained Koher and the two South Africans. None of the confiscated material belonged to Koher nor had it been loaded onto the airplane, which was secured by police.

The three men were jailed under suspicion of supporting the insurgent activity in northern Mozambique, near to where the orphanage is located. Following an initial incarceration at the local police jail on November 4, 2022, they were officially arrested on November 7 and moved to a prison in Inhambane. Koher and the South Africans were then moved to the Machava High Security Prison near the capital city of Maputo on November 16. AAL retained a Mozambican lawyer for Koher, and the U.S. Embassy was made aware of the situation.

Kohers arrive in Boise. (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

Koher was released from the high security prison on March 14, 2023, and required to remain in Mozambique. In late September 2023, a judge ordered that Koher’s passport be returned and he and his family arrived in the United States on October 5. Ryan and his wife, Annabel, have two boys and are expecting their third child in December. They are currently planning to resume their work in Mozambique in 2025.

“There has never been a point in this whole process where Annabel and I lost the desire to return. Through this experience, we have come to love the people of Mozambique more, and we are very excited to go back and continue serving there. Because we know from experience that God is faithful to carry us through hardship and difficulty, we can return in confidence, knowing His plans for us are good and that He will again help us in any time of trouble,” Koher said.

Mission Aviation Fellowship has been serving the people of Mozambique since 1999 with Ambassador Aviation becoming the operational entity in 2014. Based out of Nampula with two aircraft, the Cessna 206 and a Cessna Caravan EX, typical flights include medical evacuations, medical care through the MOZMED project, and flights for conservation groups in the Niassa Special Reserve, to name a few.

In 2021, AAL evacuated over 800 people from Afungi following insurgent attacks on Palma in the Cabo Delgado province. They also provided food, medicine, and relief supplies to the area. Medical personnel flights served the area for several months in late 2021 and early 2022 as the
region recovered from the attacks. In 2019, AAL provided a disaster assessment by air following Cyclones Idai and Kenneth and conducted 184 relief flight legs, delivering over 45,000 kg of cargo and 691 passengers as part of the humanitarian assistance response.

Tomorrow, we’ll share part two of this story, focusing on the Koher family’s hope to resume their ministry in Mozambique.

Header photo: Ryan & Annabel Koher, their two boys, and a baby girl expected in December 2024. (Photo courtesy of MAF)

Still, life is hard for Iranians, especially Christians. As the good news of Jesus spreads, so too do new persecutions. 

Peter Smith, a representative for the Persian-speaking world, says the number of arrests of Christians has gone up in the past several months. 

“People who thought were safe in their groups are no longer safe. When they go out the door, they’re fearful that somebody will be looking for them to arrest them,” he says.

It doesn’t look like the pressure will lift anytime soon. Iran’s March 1 elections have given hard-line officials continued power. 

Smith says that although protests are not happening now like they were last year, “there still is the thought that ‘The government is not the answer. We need something else. So what is it?’”

Representative stock photo courtesy of Pouya Hajiebrahimi via Unsplash

It is none other than the eternal life Jesus gives. 

“If you want to boil it down to one word, it would be hope. People see that there is hope in the gospel,” Smith says.

The simplest and most powerful thing you can do for Iran is pray.  

“For those who have been arrested, pray that they can be a testimony and light in the prisons that they’re in,” Smith says.

For young Iranians searching for something to live for, pray for dreams and visions of Christ that would draw them to Him.

Finally, pray for Christian resources to reach kids. 

“There’s a large population of single-parent families inside the country. For these young mothers who need something to help train that second generation of believers, pray that the resources that are available to them can get to them so that as their children begin to understand who Jesus is, at an early age they’ll say yes to Him,” Smith says.

Expect great things in Iran. God has always been “the One enthroned in heaven” (Psalm 2:4 ESV), and He is building a people of His own in Iran.

Header photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Amir Hosseini/Unsplash. 

Tomal is an FMI-supported pastor in Bangladesh. He serves two congregations and is the only Gospel worker in his area. Four weeks ago, Pastor Tomal was beaten by his father and stepbrother, who then pressed charges against him.

Pastor Tomal and his family. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Police arrested Tomal, but after that, things took a turn.

FMI’s Bruce Allen says Tomal’s father and stepbrother reconciled with him, “but he was not released from jail, which was very strange.

“In the weeks since then, there have been two hearings to see if he’d be granted bail so that at least he could be free and just have to report back to court for a trial date or something like that. But on both those occasions, he was denied bail.”

What Tomal didn’t know is that while he was in jail, another group had filed secret charges against him.

“The council of the local mosque had wanted to put Tomal on trial. They filed some additional complaints with the police, and those were the secret charges. It’s now been disclosed that he’s being charged as a militant activist with ties to a terrorist group and as an activist of the current opposition party of the government.”

FMI says these charges are totally false as Tomal is a Christian pastor with absolutely no political affiliations. His only aim is to support the Church and preach the Gospel.

Pastor Tomal is still in jail and awaits the next step in his case. He has a wife and young children who are also worried about him and what this means for their family.

Pastor Tomal with FMI in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

A fellow FMI pastor in a neighboring area, Pastor Basil, has visited with Tomal’s family and is supporting his two congregations along with mature congregants.

Allen asks, “We would really appreciate prayer on his behalf for his family [and] for the congregations as well.”

While in jail, Pastor Tomal has not been sitting on his hands. God has opened the door for Tomal to share Jesus Christ with other inmates. The jail has, in essence, become a “third ministry site” for the persecuted pastor!

Please pray for Pastor Tomal’s steadfast Gospel witness in jail and, ultimately, for justice in his case.

Learn more about supporting Bangladeshi church planters with FMI.

Header photo of Pastor Tomal, courtesy of FMI. 

The response from officials has been vicious. “The government really are brutal in how they’re retaliating to what the people are doing,” Silk says. “They are killing, raping, torturing, and detaining. They’re intimidating and threatening the young people of Iran and their families.

But even in death, the voices of the oppressed demand to be heard. Silk recently learned about a young woman who was arrested during a protest against mandatory hijab laws. Because of her defiant behavior, she was tortured and abused. 

“So she recorded a video that was essentially saying, ‘I don’t think they’re going to let me go, I don’t think their response to my actions is finished. If I was to disappear if I was to be arrested, tortured, martyred […] please remember this, remember us.’ And she specifically says, ‘Be our voice. We need you to be our voice. We need you to empower this movement.’”

After releasing the video, the young woman disappeared. Officials arrested and beat her parents. The abuse she predicted became a reality.

So what happens now? Right now, young people who are fighting for their freedom are experiencing immense trauma and pain because of their resilience. Transform Iran hopes to step into those challenges and provide the tools for standing strong. “[Through digital media], we offer a whole lot of teaching on identity, on healing, on how to have victory over addiction, on overcoming the pain and struggle from trauma,” Silk says. “Then through that process, we invite people to connect with us [via audio or video calls] and have one-to-one counseling, particularly in relation to trauma that they’ve experienced.”

Transform Iran is asking for support for those branches of their ministry, especially as they look to add a new cohort of specialist counselors. 

They’re also asking that you continue watching and listening. Pay attention to the stories of Iranian young people. Pay attention to the way young people seek freedom, both physically and spiritually. And pay attention to the ways God is working even amidst the violence of Iran.

Header photo courtesy of Transform Iran

However, World Mission’s Greg Kelley says it may not be over.

“What we’re hearing is that Christians right now all across this country are terrified. They’re literally terrified because what they’re hearing is that Muslims are planning similar attacks in other cities.”

The Minar of a Masjid in Faisalabad, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Asfand Yar/Unsplash)

The Pakistan government has arrested nearly 150 people connected to the mob and deployed more than 6,000 police to the area. But is it enough to stop more coordinated attacks?

Kelley says, “Let’s not forget, this is the second most populated Muslim country in the world and you have 135 million people living in that country. It’s about 1% Christian. So this is a massively highly-concentrated Muslim community, and the scary part about it is how quickly that mob can be mobilized.”

You can support our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters in Pakistan with World Mission.

“They’ve lost everything,” says Kelley. “There’s opportunities to sow into organizations like World Mission and others who will be responding to this tragedy.”

Click here to give to World Mission.

Also, Kelley says, “We can pray for church leaders who are going to be intimidated and be shying away from preaching the Gospel with boldness, but that’s exactly what we need from them right now in Pakistan.”

Header photo courtesy of World Mission.

Back on Ambassador Aviation’s base in Mozambique, Ryan shares, “We’re waiting for the investigators to finish their investigation, and then the case will go to a judge and we’ll see if they’re going to press charges or drop the case, or if there’s going to be some sort of a hearing.”

Ryan and Annabel Koher (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship, used with permission from the Koher family.)

Ryan’s wife Annabel and their two young sons are on the ministry’s Mozambique base with him. Since Ryan is unable to leave Mozambique (a provision of his release), they are trying to soak up this time together as a family. Ryan is free to travel within Mozambique, but cannot “work” since he does not have a current work visa.

Annabel says, “Life is somewhat normal because now we’re back in our house and we’re able to do day-to-day stuff. So in one sense, it’s not as hard. But in another sense, it’s hard because it’s almost like our life is on hold right now.

“We can’t make any decisions for our family for the future…and so it almost feels like our family is on hold…. We just don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know how the case is going to end.”

In the meantime, Ryan and his family are living out what it means to walk by faith.

Ryan shares, “I think people would think that I personally would be impatient or anxious. But really, I’m not feeling that. Definitely, there are hard aspects of waiting, like I’m not able to work and not able to drive or fly. So it’s kind of a little bit stuck.

“But I believe that God has a purpose for this time and that there’s no wasted time with God. So I kind of have peace in that — knowing that He has a plan and He’ll take care of me and take care of us, as He has in amazing ways so far.”

A significant way Ryan has seen the Lord’s provision is through tangible support and prayers from fellow believers around the world who are following this case.

Ryan Koher (Photo courtesy of MAF, used with permission from the Koher family.)

Ryan says, “One of the biggest blessings I had in prison was knowing there were so many people on the outside who were caring and praying and taking care of my family, sending meals and clothes and toiletries and things like that — as well as people working relentlessly on the legal side of things as well. So through that, I can see it was a work of God having His Church come behind me in that way.”

As the waiting continues, Ryan offers three specific prayer needs.

“The things that we need prayer for are a quick and desirable outcome for the case, and that we’d be able to return to the US soon and take our furlough and get additional training and support there.

“Also, another big prayer request that we have is that we’ll be able to return to Mozambique and continue to serve here once our time in the US is over.

“Then the last thing would be just [prayers for] wisdom on how to best use this story…to glorify God in the best way.”

Check back tomorrow as Ryan and Annabel talk more about their passion for ministry in Mozambique!

Header photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship, used with permission from the Koher family.