But inside Iran, there’s another story unfolding.

John Cerniglia, President of SAT-7 USA, says Iranian believers inside and outside the country are still finding ways to share Christ, even in secrecy.

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7)

“We understand, of course, in Iran that we’re talking about the underground Church,” he says. “There are no church buildings in Iran, but we understand there could be as many as a million underground believers. These are people who love Jesus, but who are unable to be public in most cases about their faith. So we hear from them because they watch our satellite television program.”

Through satellite television broadcasts, ministries like SAT-7 reach homes across Iran with Christ’s hope, even when other channels go dark.

Cerniglia says, “Satellite continues to be the only reliable way to get information into the country…. The government can easily block the internet. They can easily shut down phone service. So we’re on a primary and reliable signal to get into the country.”

Viewers in Iran can even call SAT-7 and speak with an Iranian Christian outside the country at the ministry’s call center.

“A couple of months ago, a man called into the program…and he was receiving our content in the Farsi language,” Cerniglia shares. “He was in Iran, and he called into one of our inbound call centers, screaming. I mean, he was irate.”

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7 PARS)

A young Iranian female staffer at SAT-7 answered the call – which Cerniglia explains also introduced a level of cultural imbalance, since the angry caller was an older male.

“He said to her, ‘You’ve destroyed my marriage. You told my wife I shouldn’t be beating her.’”

Despite the man’s anger and the layer of cultural imbalance, the SAT-7 staffer responded with the confidence and grace of the Holy Spirit.

Cerniglia says, “Our young Iranian woman paused and said, ‘Well, sir, what we told your wife is that she was created in the image of God, the Creator of the universe, and that her body is a holy temple to be protected and to be honored.’ And then this young 20-something said, ‘And sir, that’s how we see you. You, too, were created in the image of God.’”

“He was confused by this because this is foreign,” says Cirniglia. “In fact, this began a discipleship journey that our team is on with this gentleman! We hope to lead him to the Lord now that he understands the truth.”

Praise God for the faithful witness of Iranian believers, even from beyond Iran’s borders. Pray that many more Iranians would encounter the truth of Jesus and be transformed.

Find ways to come alongside SAT-7’s ministry at sat7usa.org.

Header photo: Iranians rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, voicing support for the United States and Israel, March 1, 2026 (Photo courtesy of MNN).

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)

The four-page report, with thirteen careful statements plus subpoints, called for a diplomatic solution. The very next day, Israel opened fire on Iranian military and nuclear targets. 

Since then, an Iranian human rights group based in Washington, DC has reported 639 killed and 1,329 wounded in Iran. The Israeli government says 24 civilians in Israel have been killed since Friday. 

“Honesty and compassion [are a] very hard balance to have at this point, especially [in a moment] that we are all charged with the emotions,” says Fadi Sharaiha with the MENA Leadership Center. “But we need to remind ourselves that we are Christians first, that we are children of God first, and God’s call on our lives is to be peacemakers.

“At the same time, every single person right now in the Middle East is being affected, impacted — whether it’s you, your family, your relatives, or your friends.” 

No one wants to imagine what could happen if the wrong strike hits the right nuclear site. Among other targets, Israeli fire has already damaged Iran’s Natanz and Arak facilities. (Here’s what the IAEA and other nuclear authorities say about this nuclear danger.)

“There is a need for some kind of peace talks about this, and then hopefully Iran will go back to the negotiation table and then sit down and have [a] good deal,” Sharaiha says. 

Whatever the outcome, he reminds us countless lives are at stake. 

“They have names, they have faces, and they have relatives; they have dreams, they have visions for their lives. And guess what? Some of them are our brothers and sisters in Christ,” he says.

“I don’t want us to only feel for our brother[s] and sisters, but also to feel for the people. Those are people created in God’s image, regardless of their skin color, gender, or even ethnic group.”

(Photo courtesy of MENA Leadership Center)

Pray for peace — and for international leaders to put the needs of their people first. 

“I also invite people to pray that whatever is happening right now will advance the gospel. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. But I know that this is my prayer,” says Sharaiha. 

Please pray for wisdom, patience, and endurance for the MENA Leadership Center. In the months ahead, they will offer new training on refugee trauma care as well as a program on mentorship and coaching. 

“Let’s remember who we are, and whenever we talk as Christians about ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do that,’ let’s remember, ‘Would Jesus say this?’ This is very important, to put the filter of the Bible [on] whatever we say,” Sharaiha offers. 

“Let’s focus on the most important thing, which is sharing the gospel. It’s not about winning or losing; it is sharing the gospel.”

Header photo: a radioactive sign at Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine (Photo courtesy of Kilian Karger via Unsplash)

Hunter Williamson, communications coordinator with THIMAR-LSESD, says they are getting updates from local Sudanese partners about the collapse of law and order in Khartoum.

“Both sides have been weaponizing aid, restricting (and in some cases even completely denying) entry of aid into areas controlled by rivaling sides,” Williamson says.

“You have a lot of crime. You have, in some cases, the fighters that are part of the forces that control certain areas are undisciplined. So maybe they act abusive towards the civilian population [and] commit crimes, robbery.”

Habil, a Sudanese graduate from ABTS. (Photo courtesy of Arab Baptist Theological Seminary)

Sudanese pastors are trying to encourage frightened believers and reach the lost for Christ, but it’s hard. THIMAR-LSESD’s Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) has Sudanese alumni, and is working to encourage them.

Williamson says ABTS alumni “have been providing everything from financial support to Sudanese church leaders to just emotional and spiritual support — whether that just be picking up the phone and talking with a Sudanese friend that’s affected by everything, praying with them, [or] reading the Word with them.”

Pray for Christ’s peace to come to Sudan. Ask God to lead the lost to repentance and for the Sudanese people to know Jesus Christ. Pray for local Christians to stand firm in their faith.

You can learn more about THIMAR-LSESD’s ministry here.

Ultimately, Williamson says, “While there is all of this destruction, all of this bloodshed, God is using all of this to bring people to Him.”

Header photo of Khartoum, Sudan (Photo courtesy of Ahmed Rabea/Flickr – https://www.flickr.com/photos/99216220@N08/9325962193/)

Pierre Houssney with Horizons International in Lebanon says, “It’s not clear whether a truce would be positive or negative because it’s just possible that when Israel is done with what it’s doing in Gaza, it could turn more of its resources toward the Lebanon front.”

Hezbollah terrorists, for their part, continue to engage in war crimes as they attack Israel.

“We’ve had Hezbollah rockets fired from next to homes of church members,” says Houssney. “They’re having their neighborhoods directly under threat because Hezbollah is using those areas to launch missiles into Israel. So it’s caused a lot of fear.”

Throughout Lebanon, Horizons staff members meet with people in their homes to share the Gospel and pray together.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Horizons International)

Meanwhile, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah at Lebanon’s southern border caused 58 Lebanese schools and education centers to close by spring. Will any of those schools reopen in the fall? It doesn’t seem likely, and 20,000 students could be impacted.

In a country the size of Lebanon, everyone feels the conflict’s impact. Houssney says, “Many people don’t realize how small Lebanon is. I mean, it’s about 140 miles from north to south. So that southern area of Lebanon where Tyre is, it’s not that far from the southern border to Israel.”

Horizons International works with the Lebanese Church to spread Gospel hope and reach Muslims for Christ. These local churches are serving thousands of people displaced from the southern border.

Pray with believers in Lebanon and throughout the region for peace. Ask God to lead many Lebanese people, including Hezbollah, to put their trust in Jesus Christ.

Houssney encourages, “I think we need to be a support to the brothers and sisters in Christ that are on all sides of these borders as things are heating up politically and as violence is increasing.”

Find ways to come alongside the Lebanese Church with Horizons International.

Header photo of Israel-Lebanon border. (Photo courtesy of Eternalsleeper | Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9439853)

The U.N. secretary-general is reportedly traveling to Egypt while U.S. President Joe Biden heads to Tel Aviv for talks with Israeli leaders. Biden will also meet with Arab leaders to discuss humanitarian aid access to Gaza.

“Our president is over there, and it’s a good thing; hopefully, America is going to be a partner to Israel and a friend of the Palestinians,” says Tom Doyle, co-founder of U.S.-based Uncharted Ministries.

“We were just talking with some new believers in Gaza, and it’s a horrific situation.”

(Photo courtesy of Uncharted Ministries)

Over a half-million people fled to southern Gaza this weekend after Israel issued evacuation warnings. Thousands remain stuck at the closed Egyptian border as supplies run desperately low.

Tensions are high at the Rafah border crossing amid continuing airstrikes. Israel does not want humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, while Egypt says it will not accept refugees. Learn why and how the Rafah crossing became a flashpoint in this war.

Hundreds of foreign nationals are said to be among the crowds at Rafah.

“The war in Israel is very close to becoming a regional war. If it does go regional, then it becomes something much bigger. We have to pray that it [does] not spread because this has global implications,” Doyle says.

“This is not the ‘same old, same old’ [situation]. This could develop into a war that affects every man, woman, and child on the planet.”

Pray for the Israel-Hamas war to end. Ask the Lord to open doors so Uncharted church partners can miraculously reach needy people with food and water.

Contact Uncharted Ministries directly for more information and ways to help.

Header image depicts Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog meeting with majority leader of the United States Senate Chuck Schumer and members of his delegation in Tel Aviv. (Photo credit: Haim Tzach/L.A.M./Wikimedia Commons)

Why is this a big deal?

Mike Ansari with Heart4Iran explains, “Iranians and Saudis have been adversaries for years, especially after the last 20 years of the Islamic Revolution. The relationship has soured because Saudi Arabia believes that Iran is actively trying to export Shiite Islam, and Saudis are Sunnis.

“The Iranian regime has had a major influence in reshaping the politics of Iraq post-Saddam Hussein. They were involved in Yemen and directly involved with the Houthi rebels. Also, Iran has had influence and presence in Syria fighting ISIS and in other regions as well. So Saudi Arabia sees that as a threat of exportation of Shiite Islam to the rest of the Muslim world.”

A mural in the holy city of Qom depicts Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, on the left and Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, on the right. (Photo/Caption courtesy of David Stanley via Flicker: https://flic.kr/p/ez3Q3N)

On one hand, Saudis and Iranians re-establishing diplomatic ties would be good for stabilizing geopolitics in the Middle East.

On the other hand, Ansari says, “The peace that has been brokered between Saudis and Iran by China is extremely telling of the fact that America and the West are soon losing their footing and influence that they once had across Middle East; specifically, in the region that is an oil-producing region.”

Less Western influence in this region of the Middle East means less oversight of Iran’s human rights abuses.

“We are going to continue to see more pressure on the religious minorities, more pressure on anyone who stands up to speak against the atrocities and the crimes that the Iranian government is committing,” says Ansari.

Thankfully, we serve God who is sovereign over the nations.

Please pray for spiritual strength and wisdom for Christians both in Iran and Saudi Arabia sharing the Gospel at the risk of their own lives.

Learn more about Heart4Iran’s ministry here!

Header photo courtesy of Heart4Iran.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “What does it mean to see these guys who were fighters for so long, now have to be governors and have to be diplomats? They have to manage relationships with other countries, both Islamic nations like Malaysia, and other nations as well.”

Will the talks help Afghanistan?

Nettleton says time will tell if the talks bring any actual help to Afghanistan’s struggling people. It’s possible the Taliban simply wants support from Malaysia’s government.

Still, Afghanistan does need aid. Ninety-percent of the population has fallen below the poverty level, with millions at risk of starvation. To make things worse, a COVID-19 wave has decimated the already fragile healthcare system.

Upheaval in Malaysia

The meeting comes amid political upheaval in Malaysia itself. Nettleton says, “The party that had held power has now kind of reasserted themselves after being voted out of power. So the people felt like they voted in a different direction, and it seems like the old party that was in power is now reasserting itself, including now meeting with the Taliban.”

“The results of the election were one thing. The Government of Malaysia now is not really mirroring what those results were.”

Though Malaysia does tolerate Christians and churches, the country forbids ethnic Malays from being anything other than Muslim.

But God isn’t limited by this law. Pray many in Malaysia would discover the endless love of Jesus.

The header photo shows Abdul Hadi Awang, the envoy who met with the Taliban. (Photo courtesy of Zahirul Nukman, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons

It all started when a Lebanese political official made remarks about Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen, seeming to call them the aggressors in the war. To make matters more complicated, Hezbollah, a powerful political force in Lebanon, openly backs the rebel groups fighting Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

The Yemen war

The civil war has ravaged Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, since 2014. The Houthi government, championing Shia Islam, took control of the capital in 2015.

Alarmed by what they perceived as Iranian influence, Saudi Arabia and several other Sunni states began a military campaign to defeat the Houthis. This campaign has received support from Western powers, including the U.S.

Since then, the war has killed 233,000 people and put Yemen at serious risk of famine. The U.N. calls the situation the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Sectarianism in Lebanon

Andrew with Cry Out Now says the spat isn’t helping Lebanon’s economic crisis. “The normal wage for a middle-class Lebanese person is about $400 a month whereas it used to be $4,000 a month. Just the gap between those who have and have not has just been split wide open with this economic crisis.”

Andrew says the diplomatic crisis also highlights sectarian divides in Lebanon, a diverse country with a government composed of Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, and Christians. Andrew says, “So many people, half the country, are indifferent to it. They just want a modern system. The other half of the country identifies with one group. That is who they are. That’s their identity. They’re so tied to it that it’s a party before nation.”

Pray that Lebanese Christians will be peacemakers, always pointing to Jesus and bringing unity in a fractured country.

The header photo shows the provinces of the Arab League. (Photo courtesy of Arab Hafez at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

In the past few weeks, a tit-for-tat dispute between the United States and Belarus has SGA keeping their eye on the situation. The U.S. imposed economic sanctions and travel restrictions against Belarusian government officials because of the country's human rights record. Belarus countered that by asking the U.S. to reduce the number of officials in the embassy. "Relations have not been good, and our concern, of course, has been that we‘re hopeful and praying that this diplomatic arguing that's going on between the West and Belarus would not have a ripple effect and cause further trouble for the ministry
of evangelical churches," Griffith said.

Even with  the restrictions, Griffith said a miraculous thing is happening on the local government level. "In local regions, we're finding they actually are asking evangelical churches for help," he said. They've been asked to talk to the youth about HIV/AIDS and drug-use prevention and to help in outreach with children in orphanages.

"Local officials see the good that the churches are doing. They see the noble behavior in believers; they see their loving behavior; they see the way lives are changed as a result of
the ministries of the churches, and I think that makes a positive impact. So, despite what orders may sometimes come down from national officials, I think sometimes local officials tend to overlook it when they can because they know the churches are doing an awful a lot of good."

SGA works in Belarus sponsoring church planters.  hey provide Christian literature and Bibles when the church needs them. They also sponsor a men's theological seminary there as well as Orphan's Reborn, a ministry where workers visit orphans in state-run orphanages to disciple the children for Christ.

Pray for the diplomatic spat to be resolved and for the protection of churches from any
resulting fall-out. Also, prayer is needed for the church to have the resources they need in ight of the ongoing economic down-turn.