Iran, Russia Target Christians, Protestors as Conflicts Continue
Iran has returned to the ugliness of persecuting protestors and Christians. Russia never stopped. It seems the best way to escape high levels of government persecution or the death penalty in these two nations is to pledge support to their governments, keep quiet and find a large rock under which to hide.
Broken Promise to Iranian Protestors and Christians
Perhaps some remember back in January of this year when President Trump threatened to crack down on the Iranian government and extremists if they didn’t stop singling out and persecuting protestors and Christians. At one point, he even told them that “help is on the way,” and to “keep protesting,” according to Reuters.
Last month, the Islamic Republic of Iran made a point of publicly hanging several people it had taken into custody during the mass uprising in Iran back in January when its economy collapsed.
Khosro Isfahani, research director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran, told the Jerusalem Post that he believes that the Iranian government is on a tear to make examples of what it will do to protestors in an effort to silence and intimidate its people. The country is in economic collapse, and these types of tactics are all the Iranian government really has to stay in power.
“When you kill a single person, the whole network around them collapses,” Isfahani said, adding that, “with executions, it has a ripple effect because it happens during a period of calm.”
Those left behind in the network of the murdered person become fearful that they could be next. While the person executed is the immediate victim, those in that person’s network are the ones the government is aiming to control.
It works the same way when a government wants to control or wipe out Christians -- a group that’s often seen as a threat to Islamic rule because of its perceived connection to the roots of American values. Last year, 254 Christians in Iran were arrested on the grounds of “propaganda contrary to the holy religion of Islam,” according to Christianity Daily.
Russia’s Continuous Persecution of Ukrainian Christians
As for Russia, Putin’s regime is on a tear to wipe out Ukraine’s cultural and historic identities. It has made missile strikes and drone strikes on various historic sites, such as Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage structure. The building dates back to the eleventh century, according to the Atlantic Council.
World leaders have condemned the attack.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer referred to the attack as “deplorable.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said it was “the equivalent, for us French, of bombing Notre Dame.”
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said it was “A barbaric act that shows total disregard for religion, history, and culture.”
However, there hasn’t been a move to take any action in response to that attack, nor the more than 600 Ukrainian churches that Russia has destroyed, nor the Christians who have been persecuted or murdered by Russia.
Ukraine Freedom Project founder Steven Moore referred to the cathedral bombing as “deliberate” and “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date,” according to EWTN News.
Though the Kremlin has attempted to claim that the bombing was an accident, Moore’s take on that is, “there’s a lot of accidents – every week there’s an accidental church bombing. Putin is not making mistakes. Putin is not going to stop this until someone makes him stop.”
He added that the efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war are nothing more than “a lot of talk.”
Moore said he has it in mind to launch several films to combat Russian propaganda and misinformation, and has been in talks with Senator John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, as part of an advocacy effort on Capitol Hill.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Oleksii Liskonih
Originally published August 12, 2026.
